Rangers Recall Edström, Rempe From Hartford
In a bit of a surprising, yet intriguing roster move from Chris Drury, the Rangers have recalled forwards Adam Edström and Matt Rempe from the Hartford Wolf Pack and have sent down Jake Leschyshyn.
Adam Edström took his opportunity and ran with it in his NHL debut back in December as he scored the final goal in the Rangers 5-1 win against Anaheim for the first of his career. Edström has 8 goals and 2 assists on the season in just 25 games played as he has missed about a month and a half with injury since making his NHL debut with the Rangers. He made his return to the Wolf Pack lineup last night in a tough 4-1 loss to the Providence Bruins. While he wouldn’t contribute on the scoreboard, he did appear to look great despite the amount of time he has missed.
As for Matt Rempe, this is a kid a lot of Rangers fans are excited about given his persona and physical presence. Rempe had a strong camp with the Rangers this year as he ended up being one of the later names cut from the opening night roster. He made a name for himself with his willingness to play the body and drop the gloves, however continued to establish himself in Hartford this season with a bit of a goal scoring touch. In 43 games played this season, Rempe has registered 8 goals and 4 assists for a total of 12 points which has him tied for the team’s offensive contributions at 5-v-5 play.
If there’s one thing you could say about Chris Drury, it’s that he does right by his guys in Hartford and seems to reward them for playing well a bit more than previous regimes. Edström has clearly been on the Rangers radar since that first recall and given how quickly they brought him back after missing all that time with injury speaks volumes about how they value him. Meanwhile, Rempe has been a consistent impact player with the Wolf Pack this year making his recall incredibly well earned. On top of that, it also gives Rempe, a Calgary native, the potential to make his NHL debut against his hometown team as the Rangers are set to take on the Flames tomorrow night at the Garden.
Which brings us to the question of how do the Rangers exactly plan to use these guys? By the looks of it, no one on this team is hurt at least to our knowledge. Could the Rangers be looking to make a change solely based on their uninspired effort against the Blackhawks on Friday night? Perhaps the taste of a particular veteran winger has gotten a bit stale and the Rangers are considering shaking things up a bit? We also know that Panarin didn’t go to the All-Star game because his wife was expecting. Don’t want to speculate too much on something personal like that but perhaps these roster moves are more precautionary as the Rangers might be without Artemiy for a night?
My own two cents, I wonder if the Rangers will reward Jimmy Vesey, who has played well for this team as of late, by moving him up to the right side of Zibanejad and Kreider. Leaving Blake Wheeler the odd man out to allow for Matt Rempe to get his NHL debut against his hometown team. Barring any other potential lineup changes, The Rangers could also consider giving Tyler Pitlick or even Barclay Goodrow a night off if they’re looking to get both Rempe and Edström in the mix. Either way, you have to think fans would love to see both of these young guys get into the line up together, especially considering their combined average height comes in at 6’7” and a half.
