Rangers’ Matt Rempe receives game misconduct in NHL return

It didn’t take long for New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe to make his mark on the NHL upon his return to the lineup.

During Friday night’s game versus the Dallas Stars, Rempe hit Stars’ defenseman Miro Heiskanen from behind into the boards. Rempe received a five-minute major and a game misconduct on the play.

Stars forward Roope Hintz immediately took exception sticking up for his fellow Finn and went after Rempe.

As the scuffle was broken apart by the referees, a helmetless Rempe emerged skating away taunting the Stars crowd with his hand up to his ear.

Prior to his call up, Rempe has tallied fivce points in 18 games with the Rangers’ American Hockey League (AHL) affilaite the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The 22-year-old had 1 goal and 1 assist for 2 points in his 17 regular season games last season, along with 71 penalty minutes. He also had 1 goal and 10 penalty minutes in 11 playoff games as the Rangers lost in six games in the third round to the Florida Panthers.

Rempe also played 43 games with the Wolf Pack in the AHL, where he had 8 goals and 4 assists for 12 points, along with 96 penalty minutes.

Rempe was a 6th round pick for the Rangers in the 2020 NHL Draft out of the WHL, and after two more seasons with the Seattle Thunderbirds, he made his professional debut with the Wolf Pack in 2022, spending parts of two seasons there before making his NHL debut earlier this year.

Rempe is in the final year of his three-year, entry-level contract with an $820,000 cap hit, and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.