New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe left tonight’s game against the San Jose Sharks with an upper-body injury, according to a team announcement. Rempe left the game just after fighting veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves. This was not Rempe’s first bout with Reaves – the two fought during Rempe’s 2023-24 rookie season as well. The fight was Rempe’s tenth in the NHL, per Hockeyfights.com’s tracking, a total he’s reached in just 68 career games.
Interestingly, in Rempe’s media availability today, he noted that becoming an enforcer in the NHL isn’t something that came naturally for him – it’s not something that he viewed as a core part of his game at previous stops in his hockey career. He told the media “In junior, I was never a fighter or anything like that,” but added that he “did what he had to do” to carve out a path to the NHL in the pro ranks. The hope for Rempe will be that the upper-body injury that knocked him out of tonight’s game won’t be a significant one that costs him any additional time. Rempe has scored one goal in eight games for the Rangers this season, and is currently playing out the first year of a two-year, one-way $975K AAV contract.
- Rempe wasn’t the only player to leave tonight’s Rangers vs. Sharks contest – the Sharks announced that veteran defenseman Nick Leddy will not return to the game after suffering an upper-body injury. Leddy looked visibly in pain after taking a hit from a forechecking Will Cuylle, and left the ice shortly afterward. Leddy, 34, has been the Sharks No. 4 defenseman so far this season in terms of ice time, playing a role on the penalty kill and registering two points in six games. The Sharks have seven healthy defensemen on their NHL roster beyond Leddy, so they should be well-positioned to absorb any absence this injury might cause. Leddy is playing out the final year of a four-year, $4MM contract he signed with the St. Louis Blues in 2022.