The legend of Matt Rempe: Inside the Rangers rookie’s wild first days in the NHL
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Matt Rempe‘s eye looked like a wall of paint samples at a hardware store. A lot of black, some blue, a touch of chartreuse around the edges. Facial bruising is a commonplace sight on an NHL rink. Rempe’s shiner was more noticeable because he stands around 6-foot-8 without skates.
“It’s nothing. Just a little … I don’t know, nothing,” Rempe said to an unusually large group of reporters on Tuesday after the New York Rangers‘ morning skate. “It’s awesome. Just part of what goes along with hitting. You get bumps and bruises along the way.”
Matt Rempe took pictures with @NYRangers fans at a @Cheesecake Factory, which just exponentially grows the legend of Matt Rempe.
“I’ve got all the time in the world for the fans. They’re the ones cheering me on,” he said. pic.twitter.com/aRvl5fmMw0
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 27, 2024
Rempe is a 21-year-old rookie whose first NHL games sparked a leaguewide obsession few could recall witnessing. He had three fights in his first five NHL games. He might have had a fourth had he not been ejected for an illegal check to the head against the rival New Jersey Devils.
Through six NHL games, Rempe has more penalty minutes (32) than minutes spent playing (28).
To counterbalance that disobedience, his first professional goal was also the game winner in a nationally televised game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“It’s gotta be one of the craziest NHL debuts that there’s ever been,” Rangers center Jonny Brodzinski said… I don’t know if there’s been anything else like it.”
The Rangers promoted Rempe from AHL Hartford ahead of their Stadium Series game against the New York Islanders at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. He was an injury replacement for winger Blake Wheeler, whose season ended with a lower-body injury on Feb. 15.
In front of 79,690 fans, on his first NHL shift, Rempe fought the Islanders’ Matt Martin, immediately earning cult hero status in New York. In his fourth game, he fought Philadelphia Flyers pugilist Nicolas Deslauriers three minutes into the first period, and then later scored the game-winning goal when a Barclay Goodrow shot bounced off Rempe’s lanky frame into the net. In his fifth game, he fought Columbus Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier 2:12 into the first period, which is why his left eye turned several different colors after Olivier pummeled him.
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Rangers rookie Matt Rempe gets into fight on first NHL shift
New York Rangers rookie Matt Rempe gets into a fight just minutes into his NHL debut.
Does Rempe like fighting?
“I’m not going to lie: It’s good. I enjoy it,” he said. “I want to get better at it. I want to learn. I want to do everything.”
Rempemania has run wild on Rangers fans for a number of reasons. It’s his unusual size and enthusiastic physical play, including those fights. It’s also his endearing personality and inherent goofiness, such as when he pridefully described taking photos with Rangers fans at a local Cheesecake Factory “while rocking the black eye.”
The crowd cheered for him at his first regular-season game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, a rematch against Columbus. The NHL’s flagship retail store, located about two blocks from the Garden, had Rempe’s jersey displayed in its front window, available for purchase. That doesn’t usually happen for a player that hadn’t played more than eight minutes in a game yet in his NHL career.
But Matt Rempe’s debut was anything but usual.
“I think you’ve seen it all over the internet. He’s definitely created a buzz,” Rangers winger Jimmy Vesey said. “It’s been a while. You don’t really see fighting like that anymore.”
It’s not just the frequency of fights that has created that buzz. It’s how he fights, according to John Scott, who was one of the NHL’s leading heavyweights for eight seasons until his retirement in 2016.
“It’s a rarity these days, just because fighting is such an anomaly. I know it’s still around, but the types of fights that Rempe is having, you don’t see them anymore. I think guys who fight are more strategic and defensive, whereas he came in and he just throws,” Scott said. “He doesn’t care if he gets hit. He just wants to inflict pain and hurt people, like back in the 1970s where you just grab on and just start chucking. So people aren’t used to that. That’s why I think it’s such a novelty now.”
The thing about novelties is that they wear off.
Can Rempe become something more than a two-week sensation for the Rangers?
REMPE HAS AN aw-shucks way of handling his sudden and inexplicable fame.
“It’s been awesome. My dream is playing in the NHL. Got a goal, got an assist, and we’re winning hockey games. Had some good fights. And you know just playing hard, playing good,” he said. “I am just trying to keep a level head, just try to stay down to earth. I’m at the beginning of my career. I’ve got a long, long way to go.”
He said he’s avoiding all media, social or otherwise, to remain focused on his growth as an NHL player. Rempe said he’s relying on his usual diversions to avoid getting caught up in his own hype.
“I love reading books. I love to do that. I’m a big fantasy book guy, so I like to read my books,” he said. “I go home, read my books, talk to my family, do that type of stuff. Play my guitar.”
Matt O’Dette, head coach of the Seattle Thunderbirds, where Rempe played junior hockey from 2019 to 2022, said this is the “multifaceted kid” that he got to know well in the Western Hockey League.
“He is a really intelligent kid, really smart kid. He’s an authentic guy. He’s a reader, he’s a musician, he’s got a personality,” O’Dette told ESPN. “People are seeing him as this 6-foot-8 monster. He plays the game a certain way. He wants to protect his teammates. I’m excited for the people to get to know him more.”
As Rempe’s teammate in the AHL and NHL, Brodzinski has had the same experience.
“When you meet him and when you get to know him, he’s the nicest guy ever. Such a family man and just a good all-around human being. And then he gets out on the ice and something clicks, and it just switches,” he said. “You hear that about a lot of great NFL players: Great guys off the field that just turn into absolute killers during the game.”
Rempe is from Calgary and has two older twin sisters obsessed with hockey. Steph and Alley Rempe went on to play at Brown University.
They lost their father, Rom Rempe, to a heart attack in February 2018. Matt Rempe called his father his best friend, someone who fueled his love of the game. His NHL debut in the Stadium Series was on the six-year anniversary of his father’s passing.
O’Dette, who welcomed Rempe to the Thunderbirds in the 2019-20 season, noted how difficult losing his father was for the young player.
“We were supportive of him and anything he needed,” he said. “And I tried to be the best mentor I could for him. But that’s a very tough thing to deal with as a kid that age.”
O’Dette mentored Rempe on and off the ice. One particular challenge was his height. Rempe plays a physical game. But because of the height disparity between him and his opponents, checks that were intended to be legal ended up being penalties or, in some cases, suspensions.
“Oh, it was extremely difficult. You have to understand that Matt Rempe is not a malicious guy. He’s not a predator. He is a very nice kid, very smart kid. He is just trying to play hockey and finish his checks and do it in as clean a way as possible,” O’Dette said. “Just him being bigger has led to some violent looking hits that were, in our opinion, more on the clean side.”
That scenario has already played out in the NHL. In a recent game against the Devils, Rempe went to deliver a check to forward Nathan Bastian and made primary contact with Bastian’s head. Rempe earned a match penalty, ending his night after just 13 seconds of ice time, but wasn’t given any supplemental discipline from the NHL Department of Player Safety.
“That’s a play where he doesn’t want to do that. That’s not the type of guy that he is, either,” Brodzinski said. “After looking at it, he did everything right. He tucked his elbow. It’s just unfortunate that the main point of contact was his head, but he’s like 6-foot-7. It’s a learning curve for him, obviously, being that tall. He has to play a certain way, so you’re never going to really get around it.”
O’Dette said that hitting at his height was something Rempe struggled with in the WHL. He was suspended four times during the 2021-22 season and five times total in his Thunderbirds career.
“He was profiled, you know, for his size. The refs always had an eye on him,” O’Dette said. “So anytime there was a heavy hit, it more often than not led to a major.”
“I remember at times he would get so frustrated and be in tears some days. He’d say, ‘I’m not meaning to hurt anybody’ or ‘These aren’t dirty hits.’ And he just continued to get kicked out of games and suspended. So it was really frustrating,” the coach added.
Rempe wasn’t a prolific fighter in the WHL. O’Dette said it wasn’t for a lack of trying, but that there weren’t a lot of takers, given his size.
“I just think he’s just learning about what he can do [as a fighter]. He is still relatively inexperienced in that area,” he said. “Seeing him do as well as he has, it’s been impressive. But yeah, it’s, still relatively new for him.”
Brodzinski said it was the same story in the AHL, although Rempe did fight more there.
“I think around six or seven fights this year, maybe a couple more in preseason. So he has fought quite a bit,” the Rangers center said. “I don’t think a lot of guys really wanted to fight him. He’d ask a bunch of guys, and people would just say ‘no.'”
But Rempe has heard “yes” in the NHL, starting with Martin in the Stadium Series game, who likened Rempe’s reach to that of Zdeno Chara, the retired defenseman listed at 6-foot-9.
“Matt Martin didn’t have to say ‘yes’ at that point at all. So it was kind of a nice old guy giving the young guy a fight, and the young guy showing up to the show and saying, ‘Here I am,'” Scott said.
When Scott, the 2016 NHL All-Star Game MVP, played his first full season with the Minnesota Wild in 2009-10, his inaugural fight was with Anaheim Ducks enforcer George Parros.
“He said before the fight, ‘I shouldn’t fight you. But any time I ask you to fight going forward, you have to say ‘yes,’ because I’m doing you a favor.’ And I was like ‘absolutely.’ So I kind of treated it like that where the young kids come up and I’d give ’em a shot whenever they would ask,” Scott said.
Now, Scott is looking out for another young fighter.
SCOTT SAID HE CONNECTED with Rempe through social media and has been offering advice to the Rangers rookie.
“If you don’t use your reach, it’s useless. It’s almost a hindrance,” he said. “Being a tall guy too, I know how to protect myself, but still be able to do my job and inflict some damage.”
Some have expressed concerns about Rempe’s future health with the way he has taken punches in these fights. It turns out one of the NHL’s most prolific fighters of the last 15 years shares those concerns.
“I’ve just been trying to give him a few tips on how to protect yourself a little bit and prolong your career,” Scott said. “If he keeps doing what he’s doing, he will have a short career. He’ll get concussions and it’ll just be hard for him to come back.”
Rempe’s home debut for the Rangers was notable for what didn’t happen. Despite being in MSG in front the fans that had embraced him, despite being on the ice against Olivier for a potential rematch, Rempe didn’t have a fight. He threw a couple of good hits in 7:42 ice time and had a team-low 11 shifts.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette wouldn’t detail the conversations he has had with Rempe about when or when not to fight. But Laviolette, in his 22nd year as an NHL head coach, acknowledged that he has told players in the past to keep the gloves on.
“I think in Carolina we told the whole team not to fight. It was the end of the year. We were locked in for the playoffs and just didn’t want to lose anybody,” he said. “I think there’s always situations that happen where you got to defend yourself or you got to defend your teammate. Those things happen out there. But we’ve definitely had those conversations.”
Scott said he wouldn’t be shocked if the Rangers had discouraged Rempe from fighting so frequently.
“As a young kid, you don’t pick your spots. You just ask everybody at all times. The Olivier fight was great. I don’t think it was a good spot for him to fight because the Rangers are a better team and obviously Columbus got momentum from it,” Scott said. “So it would not surprise me if they sat him down. If not [the coaches], just a veteran on the team who could just say, ‘Hey, we know you’re tough now. You don’t have to do it every single shift. Maybe pick your spots a little better.'”
Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said he hasn’t had that talk yet and wouldn’t tell Rempe to change his behavior.
“I’m sure he’s had some conversations with some people, but from my standpoint, he is doing what he wants to do to contribute to the team,” the veteran defenseman said. “I think he’s come in and provided something that we didn’t have. I think there’s a lot of value to it. I have a lot of respect for what he’s doing. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially coming as a young player, but he’s contributing.”
Rempe believes he has more to contribute beyond fighting. He has worked on his skating, his wall play as a winger and his speed when playing center. He has tried to go from a wrecking ball on the forecheck to someone more aware of the details on a play. While no one’s going to confuse him with Artemi Panarin, Rempe believes he has some offensive upside, having scored 17 goals in 56 games in the WHL back in 2021-22.
“I want to continue to show my skill set,” he said.
But his greatest asset is his energy. O’Dette talked about how the Thunderbirds used Rempe as the template when talking about commitment, long after he had left the organization. “First guy at the rink, last guy to leave the ice. He shifted our culture,” he said.
It was the same story in Hartford, according to Brodzinski, who said Rempe was a pacesetting teammate before and during games. “He’s always high-tempo. He’s very assertive when he plays, so you’re going to get that from him every night,” he said.
Trouba has now seen Rempe bring that energy to the Rangers. “I think it raises everyone’s level in a way. I think you have a guy on your team that goes out there and puts it on the line every night like that, I think it’s a message to the room,” he said.
No one’s sure about the shelf life of Rempemania. The Rangers’ lineup could change by the March 8 trade deadline, leaving Rempe out in favor of a veteran addition on the wing. Laviolette could decide to go in another direction with his forward depth as the playoffs draw closer. Maybe Rempe ends up not being as effective after this initial euphoric blast.
Rempe said he’s not worried about sticking around in the long term. He’s too busy trying to make the most of this “dream come true” that he’s experiencing on every shift.
“I’m 21, so I’m going to play my heart out every time and every practice, every game,” he said. “I love this game. I think it’s so fun. I love getting better. I love practice, I love it all. I love every aspect of it. I’d love to be a New York Ranger for a long time, but I want to take it day by day. I don’t know what tomorrow brings. I don’t know what the next day brings. If I just do my job, that’s all I can control.”
No matter how it ends up, it has been a myth-making few weeks for Matt Rempe, both in New York and around the NHL.
“We haven’t seen someone come in the league and do what he’s done in a long time,” Trouba said.
Even after Florida‘s late-season surge in 2024, Billy Napier needed a strong encore, while navigating another brutal schedule, to secure his long-term future as Gators coach.
After another slow start this season that featured losses to South Florida, LSU and Miami, Napier couldn’t dig himself out of the canyon this time. He was fired Sunday with a final record of 22-23 in Gainesville.
For the fifth time since Urban Meyer retired in December 2010, Florida is seeking a new head football coach. The job has its clear upsides — proximity to recruits, fan and financial support as well as the ability to compete for national championships — but the coaching churn in Gainesville is undeniable. Meyer won big there but only for a relatively short period. Florida had three straight AP top-6 finishes under Charley Pell and Galen Hall in the mid-1980s. Otherwise, Steve Spurrier is the only coach to build a sustainable winner with the Gators.
Florida gave Napier the necessary support to elevate the program, and made clear gains in recruiting. Coaches who have faced the Gators the past two seasons repeatedly praised the talent on the roster. But things never came together for long stretches under Napier, as Florida didn’t make the 12-team College Football Playoff last season and wasn’t going to this season.
Athletic director Scott Stricklin received a contract extension this summer and will be selecting his third football coach. How much power he truly has in the hire is a question looming over this search. Florida has yet to make the CFP, and really needs to get this one right. There will be no shortage of interest for one of the top jobs on the market.
Candidates | Transfers | Recruits
Five candidates for the job
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin: He’s the closest thing to Spurrier — without all the championships, of course — in today’s college football: A brash, supremely confident coach whose gifts for playcalling and quarterback development are undeniable. Kiffin, 50, has started to win more notable games in the SEC, taking down Georgia, South Carolina and others last season. He’s 27-6 since the start of the 2023 season. While his biggest accomplishments have come as an assistant coach (he won national titles as a coordinator at USC and Alabama), he led Florida Atlantic to Conference USA titles in 2017 and 2019, and knows the state and the conference well. Kiffin has indicated he might stay at Ole Miss for the long haul — or at least the slightly longer haul — but Florida would be silly not to seriously gauge his interest level.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz: Kiffin should be Florida’s top target within the SEC, but Drinkwitz also merits close consideration. Like Spurrier, he’s an offense-minded coach who delivers the goods when behind a microphone and will bring a confident style of play to Gainesville. After a slow start in Columbia, Drinkwitz, 42, guided Missouri to a Cotton Bowl title and a No. 8 finish in 2023 and also has a 27-6 record since the start of the 2023 season. The Arkansas native could have Missouri positioned for its third straight winning season in SEC play. Drinkwitz likes Missouri, which has shown him a stronger commitment over time, but if he wants to win a national championship, he could seek a move to a program like Florida.
SMU coach Rhett Lashlee: After guiding the Mustangs to the CFP in their first season as an ACC member, Lashlee is one of the top coaching candidates out there. His next stop probably would bring him to the SEC, where he twice coached with Auburn alongside Gus Malzahn and served as the Tigers’ offensive coordinator from 2013 to 2016. Lashlee, 42, also would bring experience from within the state of Florida, as he served as Miami’s offensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. He has won 11 games in each of the past two seasons at SMU.
Washington coach Jedd Fisch: Few coaches have hopscotched around the college and NFL map quite like Fisch, who at 49 has worked for seven NFL teams and six college squads since the 2002 season. He views Washington as more of a long-term play after reviving Arizona’s program with a 10-win season in 2023, but if there was a destination job that existed for Fisch, it would be Florida, his alma mater. He spent time as a student assistant and a graduate assistant with Spurrier and has worked in the state as an offensive coordinator for Miami and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Washington certainly doesn’t want to lose another talented coach so soon, but if Fisch has a big season, Florida could come calling. Fisch is 11-8 at Washington.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman: Every coaching search, especially one for a coveted job such as Florida’s, needs a shoot-your-shot candidate or two. Freeman seems very happy at Notre Dame, which has rewarded him financially and probably will continue to do so this offseason, especially if he returns to the CFP. Notre Dame certainly doesn’t want to lose a second consecutive coach to an SEC team, but Freeman, 39, is one of the hottest coaches on the market and would energize Florida with his on-field track record and his recruiting approach. The Dayton, Ohio, native has spent his entire playing and coaching career in two states — Ohio and Indiana — and would have to adjust to life in the SEC. But he has recruited nationally and shown he can win consistently, especially during last season’s playoff run. Florida would be foolish not to at least gauge his interest. — Adam Rittenberg
Five important players to retain
QB DJ Lagway: Can the next head coach keep Lagway in Gainesville? The sophomore QB has been extremely loyal to Napier and invested in building up this program with him. The retention of Lagway will likely be a major priority for whomever takes this job. Lagway has struggled this season, ranking last among SEC starters in QBR (56.7) and 15th in yards per attempt (6.82), and has dealt with injuries throughout his two seasons at Florida. He will still likely have an opportunity to be one of the highest-paid QBs in the country next year, regardless of how his sophomore season plays out.
If the Texas native wants to play closer to home, he’ll have options. Texas A&M tried hard to flip Lagway’s recruitment at the last minute after Mike Elko took over in December 2023. His father, Derek Lagway, played at Baylor in the late 1990s. Lagway will be entering his junior season and draft-eligible next year, so putting himself in the best position for his development and the NFL — whether that’s with a new regime at Florida or elsewhere — will undoubtedly influence this decision.
RB Jadan Baugh: As a freshman, Baugh emerged as the Gators’ leading rusher with 916 rushing yards and eight TDs on 5.4 yards per carry. Entering Week 8, Baugh ranked third among all FBS backs in forced missed tackles (47), according to ESPN Research, and more than 750 of his 1,284 career rushing yards have come after first contact. On Saturday, he rushed for a career-best 150 yards to help power the Gators’ win over Mississippi State. Baugh will have two more seasons of eligibility and is expected to receive significant SEC and national interest.
LB Myles Graham: Graham has moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore and leads Florida with 40 tackles, 3.5 TFLs and three pass breakups. The son of former Gators and NFL running back Earnest Graham came in as the fourth-ranked outside linebacker in the 2024 ESPN 300 and proved he was ready to play with a productive season in a reserve role, earning SEC All-Freshman recognition. It’ll probably be tough to pull him away from Gainesville given his family ties, but he is a talented playmaker.
WR Vernell Brown III: The true freshman wideout, ESPN’s No. 41 overall recruit for 2025, earned a starting role right away and has a team-high 32 catches for 463 yards through seven games. He’s the son and grandson of former Gators, so there’s a lot of loyalty there, but Brown will command major interest. You could put several more Gators wide receivers on this list, too, between Dallas Wilson, Eugene Wilson III and Aidan Mizell. All four will be seriously coveted if they explore transfers.
DT Caleb Banks: Banks turning down the NFL for one more season with the Gators was a huge deal for Napier and his staff. He’s one of ESPN’s top three defensive tackle prospects for the 2026 draft and will almost certainly go pro after this season, but Banks could return for one extra season if he needs a medical redshirt. The 6-foot-5, 330-pound senior missed the first two games because of a foot injury, reinjured it against LSU and is now expected to be out indefinitely. — Max Olson
Three key recruits
DE JaReylan McCoy, No. 9 in the ESPN 300: McCoy committed to the Gators over LSU and Texas in June, and the five-star edge rusher remains the top-ranked member of Florida’s 2026 class. McCoy and his family have spoken often about his comfort with the Gators, emphasizing that his pledge is tied as much, if not more, to the program as it is to Napier and his staff. Florida’s in-season decision to move on from Napier will surely test that resolve. McCoy spent a month committed to LSU earlier this year, and the Tigers have continued their efforts with him this fall, as have Ole Miss and Texas, among others.
QB Will Griffin, No. 69 in the ESPN 300: A Gainesville native whose family went to UF, Griffin has been committed to the Gators since June 2024, and his recruitment has been effectively shut down for more than a year. As things stand, there’s nothing to suggest Griffin will be on the move soon. But Napier’s departure at least cracks the door for any QB-needy program to check in on ESPN’s No. 6 pocket passer. If other elite commits begin spilling out of Florida’s class, figuring out how to keep Griffin in the fold will be imperative for the Gators.
RB Davian Groce, No. 36 overall: An August commit, Groce would represent the Gators’ highest-ranked running back signee since Kelvin Taylor in the 2013 cycle. Florida emerged late in Groce’s recruiting process to beat finalists Baylor, Houston and Oklahoma to ESPN’s No. 4 running back prospect. Those schools will likely circle back with Groce, whose Gators pledge looms especially large if fellow Florida running back Carsyn Baker — an early fall flip target of Auburn, Florida State and South Carolina — reopens his recruitment and heads elsewhere. — Eli Lederman
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