Matt Rempe’s lightning-quick Rangers return comes with critical development question
NY Post
The Rangers sent Matt Rempe to Hartford for a couple of AHL games under the guise of believing it was the most beneficial thing for the 6-foot-8 ½ forward at that moment in time.
And yet, four days later, Rempe was back on the MSG Training Center ice with the Blueshirts.
Rempe wasn’t just skating as an extra, either, but in preparation to play on the right wing of the fourth line against the Capitals Tuesday night in Washington. It will count as his third NHL game of the season.
The 22-year-old takes everything in stride. This AHL assignment was no different.
The Rangers say they want Rempe to become a more complete player, but playing him five minutes a night on average and only deploying him against heavier teams with fighters can pigeonhole the Big No. 73 into the enforcer role the team has actively indicated they don’t want.
“No, we have anywhere from 21, 22, 23 players on our roster on any given night,” head coach Peter Laviolette said in response to that notion after practice on Monday. “We’re going to put the roster in that we feel gives us the best chance of being successful. Doesn’t mean it has to happen that way, injuries happen through the course of the year.
Don’t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role.
Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being paid handsomely for his breakout season.
Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
It was Kids Day at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, but for the Rangers, it’s been All About The Kids for months.
PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.
Don’t close the curtain on “Mean” Joe Greene.
The Knicks are on a five-game winning streak and flooded with concerns.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.
SAN DIEGO — As you may have seen elsewhere in this newspaper (and also if you haven’t deleted me yet from your social media), I have a book coming out Tuesday called “The Bosses of The Bronx.” Much of it details the 37 years’ worth of antics, winning, losing, winning again and overall mania of George Steinbrenner’s time with the Yankees.