Mike Sullivan is trying to get the most out of Matt Rempe.
While Rempe emerged as a fan favorite since playing his first game with the New York Rangers in 2024, the main issue with him as a player lay with his lack of reliability.
Rempe wasn’t much of an offensive threat, struggled to be impactful as a two-way forward, while he wasn’t a special-teams factor, making him unplayable at times.
As a result of this, Rempe was scratched out of the lineup on multiple occasions over the past two seasons.
However, Sullivan is trying to change that perception of Rempe.
Through training camp and the preseason, he’s put Rempe on the second power-play unit playing net-front.
Sullivan is under the impression that giving Rempe a role on the power play will help make him a player who can play in the lineup each and every game.
“There are a lot of parts of Rempe’s game that we really like,” Sullivan said. “If a player is just a five-on-five player, especially as a bottom-six player, if he doesn't participate on any sort of special teams, it’s hard to find time for them, it’s hard to find minutes, that has been my experience. For those reasons, we are trying to carve out roles for guys where we are trying to find pathways or opportunities for guys for them to grow their games and also make contributions to helping us win.
“Our intention was to try Remps at the net-front during the exhibition season. Well, we really liked what we’ve seen. He’s a handful, I mean he’s a giant. He’s really strong, he makes the goaltenders' site very difficult. He's a handful for the defensemen at the net-front. I’ve been impressed with his stick skills, with his puck skills in those areas.”
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The 23-year-old forward has recently been playing on a line at training camp with Sam Carrick and Adam Edström, two players with whom he has built a strong chemistry with.
All signs point toward Rempe taking on increased responsibility for the Rangers, with the hope of reaching his ultimate potential.