New York Rangers’ Matt Rempe suspended four games for elbowing

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced on Tuesday that New York Rangers center Matt Rempe has been suspended for four games for elbowing New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.

The incident occurred late in the second period of Monday’s game between the Rangers and Devils when Siegenthaler was dumping the puck into the Rangers zone. After doing so, Rempe went to finish his check on Siegenthaler and chicken-winged the Devils defenseman in the face. Rempe received a five-minute major for elbowing, as well as a 10-minute misconduct penalty, while Siegenthaler left the game with an injury on the play.

Rempe has no prior history of being fined or suspended in his brief NHL career thus far, although he did have a similarly dirty hit a couple weeks ago that injured Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin that went unnoticed by the Department of Player Safety.

Rempe, 21, has made quite the impression in his rookie season, although it’s not for his offense, as he has just 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points in 10 games. Instead, it’s for his old-school enforcer-style play, as he’s already gotten into four fights and amassed 54 penalty minutes, which is already tied for 25th and 66th in the league.

Rempe was a sixth-round pick of the Rangers in the 2020 NHL Draft out of the WHL, and after another two seasons between the WHL and AJHL, he made his pro debut in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2022. He’s since spent parts of two seasons with Hartford before getting the call-up to the NHL and made his debut on February 18th against the New York Islanders.

Rempe is currently in the second year of his three-year, entry-level contract with an $820,000 cap hit, which does not come with any performance bonuses.

The Rangers currently sit in first in the Metropolitan Division with a 42-18-4 record, which is the fifth-best record in the league. They will look to build off of back-to-back wins when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST.