Rangers Reassign Anton Blidh
March 21: The Rangers’ PR department announced they’ve assigned Blidh back to Hartford today. Since his services weren’t required in last night’s game, he has to be returned to the minors on off days to qualify as an emergency recall.
March 20: As expected, the New York Rangers have recalled depth forward Anton Blidh from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Multiple reports this morning indicated the Rangers could have multiple players out tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but forward Matt Rempe is the only one as he’s out with an illness.
Blidh wasn’t included in tonight’s lineup and likely won’t be during the call-up. The Molnlycke, Sweden native is in his third season with the Rangers organization but has only suited up in one contest since being acquired from the Colorado Avalance in 2023.
Still, he’s been productive in the AHL with Hartford. The career bottom-six talent has scored 31 goals and 56 points in 131 games with the Wolf Pack, making for the best stretch of his career since playing for the AHL’s Providence Bruins in the late 2010s. He’s already earned a career-high 28 points this season with 11 games remaining in Hartford’s schedule.
Meanwhile, Rempe is absent from New York’s lineup for the first time in 29 games. The young enforcer has scored two goals and five points, delivering 87 hits, and earning 30 penalty minutes. Rempe’s 29 consecutive games are relatively impressive given he’s had considerable issues with suspensions and injuries through the first two years of his NHL career.
Injury Notes: Kreider, Grzelcyk, Cooley
Before today’s game against the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins, the former announced a minor injury just before puck drop. The Rangers shared winger Chris Kreider is out with an upper-body injury although his recovery timeline is only considered day-to-day.
It’s difficult to pinpoint any specific moment for Kreider’s current injury. The veteran forward has been dealing with a recurrent back spasms issue for much of the regular season, while he could also be one of the several players to succumb to a minor injury throughout the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Still, despite the specifics of the injury, Kreider did participate in the Rangers’ first game back from the tournament. Despite the team being completely outclassed by the Buffalo Sabres, Kreider scored one goal over 15 minutes in yesterday’s contest joining Mika Zibanejad as the only New York forward to not have a negative rating.
Other injury notes:
- Hopping over to the other side of today’s Metropolitan Division tilt, the Penguins announced defenseman Matt Grzelcyk won’t return to the game due to an upper-body injury. The pending unrestricted free agent only skated in five minutes of today’s action before being hit from behind by Ranger forward Matt Rempe. Rempe was originally reprimanded with a five-minute major only to be downgraded to a two-minute minor call.
- The Utah Hockey Club could be short-handed when they play their first home game in 19 days tonight. According to Brogan Houston of Deseret News Sports, Utah forward Logan Cooley is a game-time decision for this evening’s event. Cooley is confirmed to be dealing with a lower-body issue but it’s not severe enough to warrant a concrete absence from the lineup. The sophomore center is only one point away from tying his total production from last year scoring 15 goals and 43 points in 50 games.
Rangers Place Chris Kreider On Injured Reserve
11:30 a.m.: Rempe has officially been added back to the roster today, per a team announcement.
9:49 a.m.: The Rangers placed left-winger Chris Kreider on injured reserve Tuesday, reports Larry Brooks of the New York Post. The move is retroactive to his last appearance on Saturday against the Capitals. It rules him out for their next three contests with an upper-body injury, including tonight’s game against the Stars and Thursday’s rivalry matchup with the Devils. They now have an open roster spot, which, as Brooks notes, could go to winger Matt Rempe after he was sent down yesterday to make room for waiver claim Arthur Kaliyev.
As Colin Stephenson of Newsday points out, doing so would mean Rempe serves the final game of his eight-game suspension for elbowing Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen today. He would then be available to re-enter the lineup for the New Jersey game.
Kreider’s upper-body issue may be recurring, partially explaining why the 6’3″ winger’s point production has fallen off a cliff this season. He also missed three games with a UBI in November.
It is unfortunate timing for the 33-year-old, who was on a season-high three-game point streak before exiting the lineup. After scoring the first goal of the game in a 7-4 loss to Washington, he sat out the following day’s 6-2 win over the Blackhawks.
Despite still seeing consistent top-six usage, Kreider has 15 points in 34 games this year – just 0.44 per game. That would be the lowest rate of his 13-year career aside from a 23-game trial in the 2012-13 campaign, his first taste of NHL regular-season hockey.
13 of those 15 points are goals, still putting him on pace for a strong 31 goals if he played a full 82 games. Still, that would check out as his worst total since the 2020-21 season, notwithstanding his paltry two helpers on the year.
Before his injury, Kreider’s struggling second line, including Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith, was beginning to turn things around. The latter two also have active three-game point streaks. According to MoneyPuck, the trio has now controlled 51.2% of expected goals on the year after sitting below 50% through most of the early going.
Even through his struggles and trade rumors this season, Kreider still ranks second on the Blueshirts in goals behind Artemi Panarin‘s 16 in 37 games. Generating offense has been an issue overall for the Rangers, who are 21st in the league at 2.90 goals per game. That’s down sharply from last year’s 3.39 mark, which placed them seventh in the league amid a Presidents’ Trophy-winning season.
Kreider will be eligible to return on Jan. 14 against the Avalanche if his health allows.
New York Rangers Reassign Matt Rempe
A corresponding transaction was necessary for the New York Rangers after claiming Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings earlier today. The Rangers have reassigned forward Matt Rempe to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, to bring their active roster back down to the 23-man limit.
The young enforcer is seven games into an eight-game suspension and will need to miss one more should be recalled to the active roster at any point for the remaining season. Rempe has failed to find the scoresheet in five games for the Rangers this season but has accrued 24 PIMs overall.
Because his only role is becoming increasingly rarer in professional hockey, Rempe has failed to accrue much playing time throughout his brief NHL career. Since debuting with the Rangers last year, Rempe has scored one goal and one assist in 22 games averaging 5:46 of ice time per game.
He returns to a Wolf Pack lineup where he’s largely been tasked with the same role but has had more offensive production to lean on. Since joining Hartford for the 2022-23 AHL season, Rempe has scored 17 goals and 27 points in 114 contests but has also racked up an eye-popping 205 career PIMs.
The Wolf Pack are currently clinging to a playoff spot with a 15-14-2-1 record through the first 40 games and sit seventh in the league with 454 PIMs. Despite still facing a suspension in the NHL, Rempe is eligible to suit up in Hartford’s next game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday.
Rangers’ Matt Rempe Suspended Eight Games
Rangers winger Matt Rempe has been assessed an eight-game suspension by the league’s Department of Player Safety for a boarding/elbowing infraction against Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, the league announced.
Rempe laid the hit on Heiskanen (explained further here) in the third period of Friday’s 3-1 win. He was ejected on the play, the fourth time he’s faced such discipline in his 22-game NHL career. He was also assessed a two-minute minor for elbowing on the play, as well as an additional roughing minor in the aftermath. Unsurprisingly, after being suspended four games for a similar infraction against Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in March last season, he was offered an in-person hearing, which gives DoPS the option of suspending him for six games or more.
Rempe already missed today’s loss to the Hurricanes, so he has seven more games to serve. He’s considered a repeat offender under Player Safety guidelines and will forfeit $80K in salary during his suspension, relays Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic. He’ll still count against the active roster and the team’s salary cap during that time, reducing the Rangers’ flexibility for an extended period. He can appeal the suspension to league commissioner Gary Bettman, so it’s possible he might be back earlier than Jan. 9 against the Devils if he’s successful.
The incident was one of many controversial ones in Rempe’s young career. The 22-year-old, who the Blueshirts selected 165th overall in the 2020 draft, has accumulated 95 PIMs in just 22 appearances over the last two seasons while averaging 5:46 of ice time per game. The wealth of time spent in the dressing room or in the penalty box has limited his effectiveness offensively and put the Rangers in more shorthanded situations than they’d like, although it’s also worth noting he’s drawn the most penalties per 60 minutes of any Ranger over the last two seasons.
The 6’8″, 240-lb winger has spent most of this season on assignment to AHL Hartford, where he has three goals, two assists and 22 PIMs in 18 showings with a -3 rating. His game against Dallas was only his fifth NHL appearance of the season.
In the meantime, Rempe’s absence will secure more ice time for developing depth options like Brett Berard and Adam Edstrom. They still have veteran Jonny Brodzinski on hand as an extra forward to enter the lineup if necessary as well.
Matt Rempe Offered In-Person Hearing With Department Of Player Safety
Rangers winger Matt Rempe got an opportunity to return to New York following the trade of Kaapo Kakko earlier in the week. He made a big impression in his first game back but not the one he was necessarily looking to make. The NHL announced today that he has been offered an in-person hearing for a hit made on Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen on Friday; a clip of the hit via B/R Open Ice can be found here.
The hit came in the third period last night, one that saw him receive a five-minute major for elbowing along with a game misconduct. Notably, the league’s release indicates that both elbowing and boarding are among the grounds being considered for supplemental discipline.
By offering an in-person hearing, the NHL now has the ability to suspend Rempe for more than five games which is the maximum had it been a telephone hearing. That said, them offering it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll receive six or more games either. The Department of Player Safety relayed later in the day (Twitter link) that the hearing will be held on Sunday.
Rempe has played in 22 career regular season games and this was the fourth ejection of his young career. He has been suspended once before, that coming back in March when he received a four-game ban for elbowing. He will fall under repeat offender status when it comes to determining both the length of suspension and the calculation of forfeited wages where the denominator will be 82 (representing games) instead of the number of days in a particular season.
Rangers Recall Matt Rempe, Assign Victor Mancini To AHL
The Kaapo Kakko swap wasn’t the only transaction the Rangers made today. Not long after the trade was made official, the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Matt Rempe from AHL Hartford while re-assigning defenseman Victor Mancini to the Wolf Pack.
Rempe made his presence felt down the stretch last season and earned a spot with New York in training camp. However, the 22-year-old didn’t play much early on and since he’s still waiver-exempt, the team has elected to largely keep him in the minors this season, allowing him to get more playing time while playing a bigger role than he has typically had with the big club.
With the Rangers, Rempe has been limited to just four games this season where he has been held off the scoresheet although he has seven hits and seven penalty minutes in just 6:26 of playing time per night, an uptick from the 5:38 he played last night. In Hartford, he has suited up 18 times, picking up three goals and two assists along with 22 penalty minutes.
As for Mancini, the 22-year-old is in his first professional season after wrapping up his college career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha last year. Ideally, New York’s preference would have been for him to play big minutes in the minors but a strong early showing down there plus a need to help their back end has resulted in him primarily playing for the Rangers. With the addition of William Borgen, they can now allow Mancini to get that bigger playing time in Hartford.
Mancini has played in 15 games with New York so far this season, picking up a goal and four assists while logging 15:05 per night of playing time. He has also played in six games with the Wolf Pack, recording five points. His cap hit is $50K higher than Rempe’s, allowing them to offset a small portion of the extra $300K pro-rated that they took on in the Kakko-Borgen swap.
Rangers Recall Chad Ruhwedel, Reassign Matt Rempe
It’ll be another short stay in the NHL for New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe. The organization announced they’ve reassigned Rempe to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and recalled defenseman Chad Ruhwedel in a corresponding roster move.
The Rangers recalled Rempe only yesterday with veteran forward Chris Kreider out with a minor injury. He skated in 9:26 of New York’s loss at the hands of the St. Louis Blues last night and also narrowly avoided supplemental discipline. Four minutes into the third period, Rempe hit St. Louis forward Jake Neighbours with a late hit and was called for roughing on the play. The NHL Department of Player Safety gave the penalty a closer look due to the lateness but did not think it was forceful enough to warrant a suspension or fine.
He’ll now return to a Wolf Pack team where he’s spent much of the season. Rempe has scored two goals and three points in 10 games for AHL Hartford this season while posting a -7 rating.
Ruhwedel will return to the NHL after a seven-game stint with the Wolf Pack to reclaim his role as the Rangers’ seventh defenseman. After acquiring him from the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, the organization re-signed Ruhwedel to a one-year, $775K contract this past summer.
He recently tallied two assists in Hartford for his first AHL points since the 2018-19 season. He barely edged out his total number of games played with New York where he’s collected no points in six contests since joining the team on March 8th, 2024.
Rangers Recall Matt Rempe, Chris Kreider Out Day-To-Day
The Rangers announced they’ve recalled forward Matt Rempe from AHL Hartford. He comes up with Chris Kreider set to miss tonight’s game against the Blues with an upper-body injury, Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today Sports reports. They opened a roster spot with a series of transactions yesterday, so no IR placement or corresponding move is required.
It’s Rempe’s second recall of the season after making the opening night roster but only sticking around for a few weeks, earning a demotion to Hartford in late October. The 2020 sixth-round pick has been in the minors for nearly all of November, last being rostered for an NHL contest against the Senators on Nov. 1, a game for which he served as a healthy scratch.
Even with Kreider out and Filip Chytil not taking line rushes at today’s practice, per Larry Brooks of the New York Post, it’s entirely possible Rempe is only up to serve as additional injury insurance and may sit in the press box for a seventh time this season tonight versus St. Louis. The Rangers gave themselves another forward option last night by recalling Brett Berard, who Brooks says practiced with the second power-play unit today, strongly indicating he’ll make his NHL debut. If Rempe does draw in, that would indicate a healthy scratch for a depth piece like Adam Edstrom.
This month’s lengthy demotion means Rempe has seen 10 games of AHL action this season compared to three NHL contests. The towering 6’8″ enforcer has scored twice and added an assist in those minor-league games, but his -7 rating is second-worst on Hartford. He averaged just 5:26 per game in his trio of NHL appearances last month, down from his already measly 5:38 mark last year, and posted no points with six hits and a fight.
Rempe appeared in 17 NHL contests at the tail end of last season as the Rangers looked to add a physical spark to their fourth line. In his short stay in the lineup, he racked up 71 PIMs and recorded his first two NHL points, a goal and an assist.
Rempe doesn’t yet require waivers to return to Hartford, but the pending restricted free agent will need them starting with the 2025-26 campaign.
Meanwhile, Kreider is on an ice-cold streak, recording just one point in his last six games. It’s not clear if he sustained the upper-body issue in the Rangers’ 6-2 loss to the Oilers on Saturday or if he’s been playing through it. The 33-year-old is second on the team with nine goals in 19 games but has miraculously yet to record an assist.
Rangers Activate Jimmy Vesey Off LTIR, Assign Matt Rempe To AHL
The Rangers will welcome back Jimmy Vesey to their lineup tomorrow against the Islanders after he spent the first few weeks of the season on LTIR. In a corresponding move, the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Matt Rempe has been re-assigned to AHL Hartford.
Vesey was injured partway through training camp, sustaining a lower-body injury that has kept him out of all ten games the Rangers have played so far. With the 31-year-old basically being a full participant in practice for the past week, it comes as no surprise that he was activated as soon as he was eligible.
Vesey was a solid depth scorer for New York last season, notching 13 goals and 13 assists in 80 games despite averaging just 12:23 per game, a career low. He’s playing in the second and final season of a two-year, $1.6MM contract, a deal that has proven to be a team-friendly one thus far.
His return means that Rempe’s second stint with the Rangers this season was rather short-lived. New York sent him to Hartford last week, recalling him just four days later after a pair of outings with the Wolf Pack. The 22-year-old has played in just three games this season with New York and has been held off the scoresheet while averaging just 5:26 per game. Given that he’s waiver-exempt, it makes sense for him to go to Hartford and play more of a regular role with them for the time being.