Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesMatt Rempe made his return to the lineup on Monday night for the New York Rangers after a stint on long-term injured reserve.
After the Rangers’ 4-1 loss to the Ducks, Rempe revealed that he suffered a broken thumb during his fight against Ryan Reaves on Oct. 23, which is what kept him out for a lengthy period of time.
“I broke my thumb in many, many places,” Rempe said. “I just got to the penalty box. We were saying good fight to each other. I looked down on my thumb, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this thing's not right.’ It just got tangled up in his jersey. I was throwing a lot of left jabs. I just kept going, bang, bang, bang. I guess I just kept breaking and breaking it.’
It was a long few weeks of rehab for Rempe, but he actually returned to the lineup sooner than originally expected.
According to Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic, the expected timeline for Rempe was supposed to be for multiple weeks, if not months, and while it wasn't considered season-ending, he wasn’t expected to return until some point later in the season.
Rempe confessed that he didn’t think he would be physically able to return to the lineup at this point in time.
“First while, just in the gym and then a couple weeks power skating, no stick, which is a lot of fun, but probably really good for me,” Rempe said of his rehab process. “As soon as I could hold a stick, just progressing, light stick handling, light passing, then more and more and more. I can't thank all the trainers and the gym staff and everyone and all the doctors who worked on the surgery and stuff enough because they did a great job and got me back quicker than I thought originally.”
In his first game back, the 23-year-old forward logged 9:01 minutes, while also serving a role on the second power-play unit.
“I thought Remps played well under the circumstances,” Sullivan said. “I thought he kept his game simple. The one thing about Remps is when he's in the lineup, he makes an impact. I think he creates anxiety for our opponents. I think that's an area where I think he can help us. He gets it on the forecheck, he leans on people. He goes to the netfront. He makes it hard on people. He makes an impact on the game with the way he plays.”
While Rempe won’t be able to fight for at least a little bit as his thumb continues to fully heal, he does not plan on shying away from fighting in the future.
“Not at all. Not at all,” Rempe said on whether he'll be deterred from fighting. “It's just like I can't for a little while because can't bend it correctly, or just it's getting a couple more weeks and it'll be golden, but can't for a little bit, which sucks, but it's all right because (I) just go play hockey and stuff.”