How Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom can give the Rangers a unique advantage

The two biggest members of the New York Rangers franchise are back together — and Blueshirt fans everywhere should be thankful for that.

On Monday, June 23, Rangers' President and General Manager Chris Drury announced that the franchise has agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with Adam Edstrom. The news comes just five days after the Rangers gave 6'9" enforcer Matt Rempe a similar two-year extension. Both Rempe and Edstrom have recieved the same contract which includes $1.95 million ($975,000 AAV) for two years.

As previously mentioned, these two players are among some of the biggest in the NHL and are the two largest players who are part of the Rangers' franchise. In addition to standing at 6'9", Rempe weighs 255 pounds.

Edstrom comes in just behind Rempe and stands at 6'7" and weighs 241 pounds.

Here's why there's room on the Rangers roster for both of these big guys and why each poses as a threat to opposing teams.

Why does size matter?

Adam Edstrom

The New York Rangers' current roster stands just over 6'1.5" on average put together. The league average is 6'1.3" which means that without Edstrom and Rempe, the Rangers would have a below average roster when it comes to height.

Throughout 51 games played during the 2024-25 season, Edstrom scored five goals and four assists for a total of nine points. However, following exiting the Rangers' loss to the Bruins in February — he missed the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury. But one thing Edstrom made clear before his early departure on the year was that he's a man of great size who has the unique ability to play all forward positions.

Matt Rempe

Rempe is unique as well in that while some surrounding the NHL believe enforcers to be a thing of the past, Rempe proves them wrong. The physicality from Rempe often leaves the coaching staff of opposing teams preparing for how they're going to face off against him on the ice.

Given he's the tallest guy on the team, "Remps" also has a knack for running screen plays which leaves opposing goaltenders — such as New York Islander's Ilya Sorokin — shaking his head.

Rempe finished his season at 22-years-old with a career high of eight points and 117 hits.

The pair put together

Edstrom and Rempe were more often than not on the same line. As the two tallest guys on the roster, they should. In fact, on Jan. 21st the pair combined to tie an NHL record. Their combined height of 13-foot-3 is tied with Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton for the tallest combination of goal scorer and primary assister on a single goal in NHL history. Rempe and Edstrom's third linemate was often Sam Carrick, and in 77 minutes at 5v5 they posted a 100 GF%, a 41.91 CF% and a 47.45 xGF% according to Evolving-Hockey. This was a very small sample in which they got lucky, but with more time and development the Rangers hope the pair can be a multi-faceted menace when they take the ice.

The duo is also quite close off the ice, with Rempe even going as far to congratulate Edstrom on his extension via his Instagram story and calling the Sweden native his brother.

Once Edstrom and Rempe both return to the ice next season, opposing teams are going to have to find a way to combat their height And it wont be an easy task, that's for sure.