Matt Rempe has gotten some high praise from both Tom Wilson and Ryan Reaves, two fellow enforcers.
From one enforcer to another, Rempe returned the favor as he admitted that despite some of his incidents on the ice with Wilson and Reaves, he has a ton of respect for the way they play.
“It’s a huge compliment obviously,” Rempe said of Wilson and Reaves complimenting him. “Tom Wilson is an incredible player. He just plays the game super hard and super skilled. For him to compliment my game is huge praise. It’s pretty cool.
“Same with Reaves saying nice things. I think it’s always real cool when you get respect from those types of players. You wanna earn that respect and you want to keep working on your game and work on it. I think it’s pretty cool.”
Rempe has fought Reaves in the past while he just recently got into a heated confrontation on the ice with Wilson.
It’s all respect amongst these three players though.
Rempe has transformed into more than just an enforcer. The 22-year-old forward is playing some of the best hockey of his career as of late and that’s due to his confidence continuing to rise with the puck on his stick and his effort to become an impactful two-way player.
“I don’t really see a difference in his physical game, I think his physical game has been good,” Peter Laviolette said. “He constantly looks for hits. His game has been good. There’s been a lot of games where he’s had the puck on his stick and he’s made good plays.
“He’s looking to create, he’s looking to generate offense and I think that’s really good. Defensively, he continues to be pretty strong. I think he’s done a good job. His confidence seems to be good.”
Since he made his NHL debut last season, Rempe has taken tremendous strides and will be a problem in the future if he continues to grow as a player.