Rangers recall Matt Rempe, currently at 15 forwards

The New York Rangers have recalled forward Matt Rempe, per the AHL transaction log. The call up seems odd, since it wasn’t announced with the Brett Berard call up yesterday, suggesting something happened in between the Berard call up and this morning. The Rangers will now have 15 forwards on the roster, which seems very odd for any team, let alone one that seems to have all their forward spots accounted for.

Even with the 15 forwards, the Rangers are still at the max roster size of 23 (15 forwards, 6 defense, 2 goalies). From a roster space standpoint, they don’t need to make a move. They are also ok from a cap perspective. Purely from a roster and cap standpoint, no additional moves are needed.

But carrying 15 forwards is weird, even if Filip Chytil is going to continue to remain out of the lineup. I don’t think there’s a trade brewing, and Peter Laviolette did experiment with Kaapo Kakko at center. Perhaps it’s a whole roster shakeup?