Rangers’ Matt Rempe skating, no timeline for return from injury: report
Matt Rempe isn’t with the New York Rangers on their current three-game road trip. But the injured forward is back on the ice, per reports from Denver, where the Rangers play the League-leading Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Rempe sustained an upper-body injury in fight against San Jose Sharks enforcer Ryan Reaves on Oct. 23. At first, the Rangers believed the popular 23-year-old would return on the ensuing road trip to Western Canada and Seattle. However, during the trip, coach Mike Sullivan revealed that Rempe is out “longer-term,” and he subsequently landed on LTIR.
On Wednesday, Sullivan provided the first update in weeks about Rempe’s status.
“He’s on a rehab schedule right now where he’s three days on, one day off,” Sullivan told reporters. “He is on the ice and he’s skating.”
Rempe’s eligible to be activated at any point, since he’s already missed 12 games — two more than the requisite 10 a player must be out for when on long term injured reserve. However, Sullivan stated that there’s no plan in place for the 6-foot-7 forward to return just yet.
In the first nine games this season, Rempe helped the Rangers fourth line be an absolute handful for opposing teams. Rempe had one goal and averaged a career-high 9:48 TOI before the injury. But his speed, strength, size, and smarts made him a dangerous weapon on the forecheck, along with linemates Sam Carrick and Adam Edstrom.
Though Carrick continues to be an important piece for the Rangers — as a physical agitator and key penalty killer — the fourth line hasn’t been nearly as effective without Rempe. None of his replacements — Taylor Raddysh, Juuso Parssinen, Conor Sheary, Jonny Brodzinski — displayed the same chemistry with Carrick, in particular, that Rempe does. And Edstrom struggled mightily to put in the puck in the net despite a string of good chances, and was a healthy scratch Tuesday when the Rangers opened the road trip with a 3-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The bitter irony of Rempe’s injury is that it occurred in his first fight of the season. He’s been a much more disciplined player on all fronts this season, and had just one minor penalty in eight games before the fight with Reaves. And the Rangers seriously miss him now that he’s not in the lineup.
