Matt Rempe was one of the NHL's least successful fighters last season, while Flyers tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers went 11-for-11, according to a report.
Matt Rempe was one of the NHL's least successful fighters last season, while Flyers tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers went 11-for-11, according to a report.
The video looks vicious.
Gloves and helmets off, Matt Rempe is clutching his opponent's jersey, while delivering haymaker uppercuts. Luckily for his sparring partner, who happens to be former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque, Rempe's punches are aimed at a boxing training pad — not Laraque's face.
But consider this a warning to anyone who dares to drop the gloves with the New York Rangers forward next season.
"If you thought Rempe was a problem this year in the NHL, wait till you see him this coming season," Laraque tweeted.
Apparently, the New York Rangers forward needs all the help he can get.
Despite bursting into the NHL and racking up five fights in just 17 games, the 6-foot-7 and 241-pound rookie was one of the least successful fighters in the league last season.
According to betting information site sportshandle.com, which collected data for every fight from the 2023-24 regular season, Rempe had a 20-percent win rate. That tied him for last among players who dropped the gloves five or more times.
Laraque hopes to change that by turning the 22-year-old contender into the heavyweight champion. But to get the belt, he must beat Philadelphia's Nicolas Deslauriers, whom SportsHandle said won all 11 of his fights, including one against Rempe on Feb. 24.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WpLl3TsoY[/embed]
The betting site also declared Deslauriers the winner of the inaugural 'Bob Probert Trophy', awarded to the player "who has shown the most remarkable efforts and skills, when resorting to fisticuffs to settle on-ice disputes in the National Hockey League."
SportsHandle used data from hockeyfights.com, relying on voter submissions to determine who won or lost a fight. In the Rempe-Deslauriers fight, the results were 157-148 in favor of Deslauriers.
After Deslauriers, the most successful fighters were New Jersey's Kurtis MacDermid and Washington's Tom Wilson, each with five wins in five fights. In other words, the Metropolitan Division might be the toughest division in the NHL.
Toronto's Ryan Reaves, who is still considered the most feared fighter by some, won five of his seven fights.
As a team, the Ducks fought 28 times, the most in the NHL. But Philadelphia had the best winning percentage (96 percent), followed by Dallas (88 percent) and Washington (83 percent).
Toronto, which got into 25 fights — the second-most — only won 56 percent of them.
At the other end of the league, the Ottawa Senators won five of their 24 fights, ranking last in fight win percentage at 21 percent. The San Jose Sharks were second-last with five of 19 fights won (26 percent), and the Nashville Predators were third-last with 11 of 33 fights won (33 percent).