Rangers return Matt Rempe to Hartford, recall Chad Ruhwedel

Not surprisingly, the Rangers have returned Matt Rempe to Hartford and recalled defenseman Chad Ruhwedel in the same transaction. This move was clearly happening after Rempe’s boneheaded penalty last night against St. Louis, but was also a product of having 15 forwards and 6 defensemen on the roster yesterday. That wasn’t a long term plan, and now we see why.

Whether the plan was to have Rempe up for just last night’s game is a mystery, but his penalty in the second period against St. Louis was very bad, leveling Jake Neighbours far away from the play for reasons unknown. Of course he was penalized, though it’s unlikely that specific penalty had anything to do with the 5-2 loss.

The Rangers need to let Rempe grow and stop bringing him up to be a sideshow. The kid can play, he just needs time to grow the rest of his game.