NEW YORK— New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe was suspended for eight games by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Sunday for boarding and elbowing Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen on Friday night.
Rempe had an in-person hearing on Sunday via Zoom, instead of a phone call, leaving senior vice president of player safety George Parros and his department Rempe to suspend for six or more games.
The announcement was made shortly after the Rangers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 At home. It was New York’s twelfth loss in the last sixteen games and the fourth in a row at Madison Square Garden.
Rempe, a 6-foot-4 forward, became popular in his rookie year with the Rangers last season as he battled some of the NHL’s toughest players. But he was sent off twice and also received a four-match suspension for an elbow to the head of New Jersey’s Jonas Siegenthaler in a home game on March 11.
The 22-year-old Rempe has zero points from five games this season. Friday’s game in Dallas marked his first return to the NHL after being recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League, where he had three goals, two assists and 22 penalty minutes in 18 games.
Rempe spent the summer training to become a better fighter but it also worked to become a better all-round player.
He played less than six minutes in the 3-1 win against the Stars, but also had three penalties as the Rangers snapped a three-game losing streak with the road win.
Rempe has been assessed four game misconducts and eight major penalties in 22 regular-season games for the Rangers.
Rempe was selected by the Rangers in the sixth round of the 2020 draft. He burst onto the scene last February when he battled the Islanders’ Matt Martin outside in front of a crowd of nearly 80,000 people at MetLife Stadium in his NHL debut.
He had a goal, an assist and 71 penalty minutes in 17 games last season and also scored once in 11 playoff games as the Rangers reached the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the Florida Panthers in six games.
