Matt Rempe Confronts Tough Setback After New York Rangers' Surprising Roster Move

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Daniel Lucente
October 25, 2024 (11:57)

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The New York Rangers have just sent Matt Rempe down to the AHL following a lack of ice time. Could this move prove that the days of NHL fights are ending?

The NHL has changed bit by bit over the years, but two of the most discussed are the shrinking role of enforcers and the art of fighting. This year, the struggles of players like Matt Rempe from the New York Rangers personify changing priorities throughout the league. The Rangers have just announced the assignment of Rempe to the Hartford Wolf Pack, their AHL affiliate, in a bid to get him more ice time.

A physical player who will drop the gloves with anyone, Rempe has struggled to find regular minutes with the Rangers this season, averaging a paltry 5:39 per game in his brief two-game appearance. The reassignment will open up more time for him to continue his hard-hitting style in the AHL, where he can round himself out with the hope of one day being a complete player capable of consistent NHL contributions.

With Matt Rempe heading to the AHL, the league has also seen established players like Ryan Reaves and Arber Xhekaj; known enforcers, also seeing their ice time reduced. It's a signal towards how the league has shifted dramatically and the old-school style of intimidation through fighting has been replaced with intimidation through skill.

Reaves is a tenured NHL enforcer currently with the Toronto Maple Leafs. His physicality and fighting have been his calling cards throughout his career. This season, he has averaged fewer minutes than at any other point in his career. The same can be said for Xhekaj, who came into the Montreal Canadiens touted in a very similar mold as a tough customer but has been a healthy scratch quite often recently.

Over time, both have gone from hulking presences in the lineup to players with near-zero assignments on their rosters. All this suggests that, in a league trending more toward speed, skill, and finesse, the priority for enforcers is slowly, but surely, sliding down the pecking order of the NHL.

This is not just something that affects a few players, but it reflects the bigger picture across the NHL. Once major factors in teams due to the intimidation factor against other opponents and protection of star players, the traditional enforcers have slowly become nearly irrelevant to the modern game.

In the last decade, rule changes put in place by the league to make the game safer for all participants, and have included stricter punishments for fighting. As such, it has become crucial that physical players learn to become more well-rounded if they are to remain relevant in the NHL. Talent and offensive capability are now in the spotlight, and players like Matt Rempe, Ryan Reaves, and Arber Xhekaj need to find a way to either adapt or risk becoming extinct.

Matt Rempe's move to the AHL is one towards honing his craft beyond the signature aggressive style he's shown thus far. Playing under Hartford's new head coach, Grant Potulny, he has the opportunity to expand his offensive and defensive capabilities while staying true to his physical style. Potulny found great success as a coach with his time at Northern Michigan University, winning coach of the year in his first season; He is also the older brother of former NHLer Ryan Potulny.

If he can round out his skills in the AHL, then a return to the Rangers roster with a better set of skills that suit the modern NHL could be in Rempe's future. His re-assignment also showcases the difficulties for enforcers in today's league, who often find themselves outside looking in unless they can contribute in different ways.

The larger point is that fighting itself may have little future in the NHL. The league's enforcers see their roles minimized as they pick up pace and emphasize scoring goals even more.

Physical players have trended toward multi-dimensional roles this season or have been in for less ice time, such as Matt Rempe, Ryan Reaves, and Arber Xhekaj. Teams will eventually cede ground willingly to the talent that can keep up with a game in constant evolution, and the traditional enforcer role will fade out completely.

Fights seem to be in a steady decline as modernization continues in the NHL. Players such as Matt Rempe, Ryan Reaves, and Arber Xhekaj remind one of an era when toughness on the ice was invaluable, but today's league is changing.

Whether that will ever be taken completely out remains to be seen, but the direction taken thus far seems to indicate that the enforcer's role, and fighting itself, may be headed toward extinction. The future of the NHL might just be one in which skill prevails over brute strength, where the physical players are prized for their versatility, not their fists.