Matt Rempe quickly earned the hearts of Rangers fans for the high energy and physical play he brought to the lineup down the stretch in the regular season and playoffs during his rookie campaign.
The winger didn’t quite earn the trust of veteran head coach Peter Laviolette as quickly, however, as he was glued to the team’s fourth line and averaged just 5:38 of ice time across the 17 regular season games and 6:07 time on the ice over 11 playoff games. (He didn't dress for the Rangers' other five postseason fixtures.)
The youngster has his sights set on changing that heading into his second pro training camp with the team, though.
“I want to go in and earn a role,” Rempe told Larry Brooks of the NY Post. “I just want to go into camp, take strides from last year, work my bag off every day and show them I can be an effective player and that I’ve taken big steps from last season.”
In an effort to better prepare himself for that training camp battle, Rempe has been working hard on improving not just his fighting, but all areas of his game throughout the course of the offseason.
While some view the 6-foot-9 youngster as nothing more than an enforcer and fourth-line scraper, he’s eager to show that there are so many more ways he can contribute to this lineup.
“I feel like I can be an effective bottom-six player who is fast, mean, skates well, protects pucks, goes to the net and is good around the net,” he said. “I want to be a good penalty killer and feel like I can be a guy who one day can be on a shutdown line.
“I want to be very hard to play against and also create offense around the net by bringing pucks to the net. I know I still have a long way to go but that’s all I’m working toward heading into this season.”
Rempe began the offseason back home in Calgary, but he recently returned to Connecticut, where he plans on remaining to work out alongside veteran winger Chris Kreider until training camp kicks off in just a few weeks.
And after an impressive rookie stint, the 22-year-old certainly sounds ready and determined to carve out a bit of a bigger role for himself heading into his sophomore season in the Big Apple.