The 2025-26 season was a lesson learned for Matt Rempe.
Limited to just 26 games due to a lingering thumb injury, the 6-foot-9 forward’s campaign was lost on account of an overzealous return in December.
Rempe wasn’t even able to fully hold his stick after his first surgery, but he returned to the lineup anyway before he was placed on injured reserve and shut down for the rest of the season following a second surgery in February.
“I think, maybe, learning to be more honest about how it’s feeling, per se,” he said Friday as the Rangers cleaned out their lockers for the summer. “And that’s a good lesson because I feel like I’m the type of guy who just wants to go. If I can play, I can play type of thing. I think that needed more talking. The thing is, the second surgery, I didn’t want to do it originally. But then realized it 100 percent had to get done.
“We had to see how the first one was going to heal. When it didn’t go the way it was planned at all, then it had to be done. It was a learning [experience], but there was nothing I could’ve done differently because it wouldn’t have gotten better on its own. It had to have another procedure on that.”
Having carved his NHL path with his fists and physicality, Rempe had to decline fights to allow his thumb to heal. His inability to play his usual style clearly took him out of the game, making it more difficult for him to find ways to make an impact.
The stretch of play from late December into January was one the most difficult for Rempe, who said he felt like he was “not good” and “just skating around.”
“It wasn’t me at all,” Rempe added.
Signed through next season at $975,000, Rempe will go into training camp with multiple former Wolf Pack teammates competing against him for a bottom-six role.
“I want to go out there and be good every night and play physical and play my game,” he said. “When you’re not able to do that, you just feel like — I was down. That was a tough, tough month for me there. That was a good learning [experience]. You’re gonna have highs and lows, and that was definitely a low, but just learn from it. Now we got it right so we can come back in.”
Adam Edstrom missed 33 consecutive games after suffering a fracture in his ankle that required surgery in December.
“I played through it for almost six weeks,” he said. “Eventually, me and the doctors made a decision together that was best for me and the longevity of my career.”
Of the Rangers who spoke with the media Friday, Finland’s Urho Vaakanainen and Slovakia’s Adam Sykora said they will be reporting to their respective national teams for the World Championship in May.
Gabe Perrault said he had conversations with Team USA about participating in this year’s tournament, but the Rangers rookie ultimately decided not to play.
“I think this is a big summer for me, and I want to spend more time in the gym and be able to put some more strength on,” he said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
