Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesThe 2025-26 season started with so much promise and hope for Matt Rempe, but his fortunes quickly changed.
Throughout training camp and to open the regular season, Mike Sullivan experimented with Rempe playing a net-front role on the first power-play unit and gave him an expanded role beyond what he was previously accustomed to.
With a new coach came more opportunities with the New York Rangers for Rempe, as Sullivan was attempting to expand his overall game.
Everything appeared to be looking up for the 6-foot-9 winger until Oct. 23, when he broke his thumb in a game against the San Jose Sharks, fighting against Ryan Reaves.
The broken thumb required surgery, and Rempe was placed on long-term injured reserve, missing a total of 24 games.
Upon returning to the lineup in December, the 23-year-old forward struggled, failing to record a point in 17 games, and he admitted that he still faced limitations due to his injured thumb.
“Being hurt since October, obviously very disappointing,” Rempe said. “That was a frustrating period there, when I came back, that wasn't me…
“When I came back, I just couldn’t play my game. I felt like I was just not good, like I was just kind of skating and around everything, and I couldn't do my stuff. That was tough because you want to go out there and be good every night. I was down.”
Ultimately, Rempe was placed on injured reserve in February after being forced to undergo season-ending thumb surgery.
Rempe’s natural instinct was to come back as soon as possible after his initial thumb surgery despite not being fully healthy.
“Maybe learning for me to be more honest about how it's feeling, and that's a good lesson because I feel like I’m the type of guy who just wants to. go. I think that needed more talking. The second surgery, I didn't want to do it originally because (I) realized it one hundred percent had to be done… It wouldn't have gone better on its own, (I) had to have another procedure on that.”
Going into the offseason, Rempe is fully cleared for on ice activities; it’s now just a matter of getting his grip strength back to normal.
He’s confident that once training camp rolls around, he’ll be ready to compete with no limitations.
“I’m very confident,” Rempe said about whether he'll be healthy for training camp. “I've had the last two months to start really trying to build it back and now have until September to just work at it every day. That's the number number one focus.”