Matt Rempe’s lightning-quick Rangers return comes with critical development question

The Rangers sent Matt Rempe to Hartford for a couple of AHL games under the guise of believing it was the most beneficial thing for the 6-foot-8 ½ forward at that moment in time.

And yet, four days later, Rempe was back on the MSG Training Center ice with the Blueshirts.

Rempe wasn’t just skating as an extra, either, but in preparation to play on the right wing of the fourth line against the Capitals Tuesday night in Washington. It will count as his third NHL game of the season.

The 22-year-old takes everything in stride. This AHL assignment was no different.

Matt Rempe is back with the Rangers after a short AHL stint. Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

The Rangers say they want Rempe to become a more complete player, but playing him five minutes a night on average and only deploying him against heavier teams with fighters can pigeonhole the Big No. 73 into the enforcer role the team has actively indicated they don’t want.

“No, we have anywhere from 21, 22, 23 players on our roster on any given night,” head coach Peter Laviolette said in response to that notion after practice on Monday. “We’re going to put the roster in that we feel gives us the best chance of being successful. Doesn’t mean it has to happen that way, injuries happen through the course of the year.

“The lines, the lineup and the people that have been in the lineup have played well. They’ve done a good job. We make the decisions based on what we think we need for any given night. Him going down and playing two games and playing 16-18 minutes in all situations, that’s great for him and his development.

“He’s a young player that’s continuing to work at his game, work at his craft. We saw an opportunity, got an opportunity to go down and get him some minutes and we did that. Now, he comes back up here and we’ll make those decisions based on what we need here.”

Rempe should be playing as much as possible, whether it’s in the NHL or AHL. The holes in his game won’t be filled with just practice time, even if at the NHL level.

So the idea behind sending Rempe down to the Wolf Pack made a lot of sense after he served as a healthy scratch for the Rangers in four of the first six games of the 2024-25 season.

To bring him back up just because Tom Wilson and the Capitals will be at the other end of the ice Tuesday night — if that is truly the reason — feeds into the narrative that Rempe is only here to hit and fight.

Rangers center Matt Rempe (73) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Devils , Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024 Noah K. Murray-NY Post

Sure, that will be part of his role for years to come, but the short leash the Rangers have on Rempe is going to have to come off if his development as an all-around player is going to continue.

“I’m so young still,” Rempe said of how he remains mentally ready for his next NHL call. “I want to go play games. I want to grow my game. I got to get a lot better in all areas. I think that’s great for me to go play. That was the first time I played PK and power play in a pro hockey game ever. That was the first time I’d ever played special teams in pro hockey ever was the weekend. So that was great.”

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Rempe didn’t have a particularly strong couple of performances in Hartford, where he played center on the second line between Adam Erne and Jaroslav Chmelar/Nate Sucese and finished minus-three with two shots on goal in the two games — one overtime win and one three-goal loss.

In theory, the all-situations play in the AHL is beneficial for Rempe, though it’s difficult to correlate how top-six time in the AHL will help his bottom-six role in the NHL in addition to skating in the middle, when it’s likely that he’ll be a wing at the NHL level.

Rempe said himself that it was a big adjustment, going from playing less than 10 minutes a night while primarily focused on his physicality to over 15 while trying to make plays.

Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette stands behind the bench during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. AP

There needs to be some more uniformity when it comes to Rempe, who has shown a commitment to whatever the Rangers think is best for him.

“Got to go play 17, 18, 19 minutes the last two games, played center, played all situations — it was good for me,” he said. “Hadn’t played a lot of minutes in a long while, so it was good for me to get all those game situations, feel the puck, play not just the physical side and play in a top-six role.”