Matt Rempe starting to show he’s more than just a Rangers’ enforcer
NY Post
It was only a three-second glimpse, but Matt Rempe, finally, showcased offensive strides. The ones he started talking about in the preseason — after a summer’s worth of work — and kept doubling down on, even when he fluctuated in and out of the Rangers lineup and shuttled back and forth to AHL Hartford.
The ones that, over time, will help him morph into more than a physical fourth-line forward.
In the early minutes of the third period Tuesday, Rempe found space alongside Adam Edstrom on a rush, collected a pass and flipped the puck into the Senators net with his backhand moments later, giving the Rangers a three-goal lead. It marked just the third goal of Rempe’s career and first of the campaign.
As a winger with a hulking 6-foot-8 ½ frame, his job description doesn’t typically include that. He’s far from a 20-goal scorer.
At this pace, he’s far from even being a five-goal one, too.
But Rempe still wants to change that.
In a different time, in a season to come, we may be inclined to wax poetic about the way this one played out. In a different time, in a season to come, the Nets will be seeking to stack wins and not losses, will be fighting for playoff seeding and not for a few extra ping-pong balls in the draft lottery this spring.
The NBA has an All-Star Game problem. Despite Adam Silver’s efforts to inject juice into the February showcase — including a format alteration to the 2025 game that is too confusing to attempt to understand before it’s inevitably changed again — there’s little interest in watching teams eschew defense for a series of layup line highlights. That also means the most entertaining part of the NBA All-Star Game is just like the Pro Bowl — debating over who should get a spot.