RALEIGH, N.C. — Ten games into his NHL career, Matt Rempe has already had to introduce himself to George Parros, the head of the NHL’s department of player safety.
Parros suspended Rempe for four games on Tuesday after the Rangers’ rookie landed a high-elbowed hit to the head of Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in Monday’s 3-1 win at the Garden.
Rempe will miss Tuesday’s game against the Hurricanes, Thursday’s game against the Lightning, Saturday’s game against the Penguins and Sunday’s game against the Islanders.
“We talked to Matt before that hit,” head coach Peter Laviolette said before Tuesday’s game. “We talked to him about his game, on the ice, his physicality, what he brings to the team. It’s a young player and we look to always talk with him and teach him. It’s a learning process. He’ll serve the games and move on.”
Rempe, who already had drawn the ire of the Devils since he rammed Nathan Bastian on Feb. 22, was assessed a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for his actions.
The Devils’ newly acquired enforcer, Kurtis MacDermid, tried to make Rempe answer for the previous hit on Bastian in the first period Tuesday night, but the 6-foot-8 ½ forward declined.
After Rempe lined Siegenthaler up and threw an elbow, the Devils let Rempe hear it in the moment and after the game in their postgame interview scrums.
MacDermid actually had to be held back. Rempe then waved to MacDermid as he was escorted off the ice by an official.
“After a hit like that, it kind of goes without saying you should answer the bell in some way and be a man about it,” the 29-year-old MacDermid said after the game. “Then the game goes on and he throws another hit like that and gets kicked out.
“There’s a right way to go about things and a wrong way. I kind of lost a lot of respect for [Rempe] tonight.”
Travis Green, who was named the Devils’ interim coach after Lindy Ruff was let go last week, said he thought Rempe had “intent there to injure” Siegenthaler.
There is an argument to be made, however, that Rempe was trying to brace himself from crashing into the boards.
“That is what happened,” Laviolette said. “That being said, in those situations and when you’re talking to him about it, he’s got to be mindful as well. He was getting to a point where he was going to go crashing into the boards and he put his arms up. It’s over, he can learn from it and we’ll miss him while he’s gone.
“He was playing another pretty good game for us. He’s been really effective with what he does out on the ice. There’s been a lot around him since he’s come onto our team and into the league. You take an opportunity like this and you just try to get better from it.”
Rempe has left a trail of bruises from game-to-game through his first three-plus weeks in the NHL.
The league’s toughest guys have lined up for a chance to scrap with the Calgary native.
First it was the Islanders’ Matt Martin. Then Siegenthaler stepped in to defend Bastian and caught two punches from Rempe. The Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers was next in Philadelphia.
MacDermid after he was ejected. AP
Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier later gave Rempe his ‘Welcome to the NHL’ moment with some serious haymakers, which left the 21-year-old purple around both eyes for days.
Rempe then danced with ex-Ranger and current Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves at center ice in Toronto in front of a “Hockey Night in Canada” audience.
“I thought it was good, especially considering the guy knocked one of our guys out of the game,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said earlier this month, referring to Rempe’s board-shaking hit on Ilya Lyubushkin. “Injuring players is starting to get up to as many as the fights now.”
The Rangers have fed off of Rempe’s energy, which has had a ripple effect throughout the lineup and prompted his new teammates to play more physically.
Despite sheltered minutes, Rempe not only has a goal and an assist, but the Rangers’ 165th-overall pick in 2020 has had an impactful presence on the ice.
In 56 total minutes of ice time, however, Rempe has racked up a staggering 54 penalty minutes and now a suspension.
