The longest-tenured New York Rangers veteran on the Blueshirts' roster — Chris Kreider — has been placed on the Injured Reserve retroactive to Sunday, leaving him unavailable for the rest of the week. As a result, fan-favorite enforcer Matt Rempe has been recalled from Hartford to serve the final game of his eight-game suspension.
Rempe was recently sent back down to the Hartford Wold Pack following Arthur Kaliyev being claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings. With Kreider now missing the next few games, Rempe serving the last game of his suspension on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars makes complete sense.
Once he remains in the locker room at Madison Square Garden against the Stars, the 6'9", 255 pound forward will be eligible for play when the Blueshirts host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
Kreider missed Sunday’s win over Chicago with an upper-body injury, and will now be out through at least next Sunday, missing at least three games.
UPDATE: Matt Rempe has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack.
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) January 7, 2025
As seen at the Rangers practice facility on Tuesday morning, with Kreider out of the lineup, the top power play unit has a different look. Alexis Lafrenière and Mika Zibanejad are a part of the unit. Vincent Trocheck now slots into the net front role with Zibanejad as the left bumper and Lafrenière on the right side.
Kreider joins goaltender Igor Shesterkin on IR. Though, Shesterkin was also an active participant in the morning skate. However, Louis Domingue is still with the team and Jonathan Quick was the first one off the ice, indicating Shesterkin is still a ways away from returning to the lineup.
For the first time since landing on injured reserve, Igor Shesterkin is back on the ice. Unclear at the moment if he’ll be back in the lineup. #NYR pic.twitter.com/Ledv7BNEJr
— Remy Mastey (@MasteyRemy) January 7, 2025
This year with the AHL, Rempe has tallied three goals and two assists across 18 games played so far. As for his overall AHL career so far, he has 27 points off of 17 goals and 10 assists across 114 games. In the NHL, the Canadian has 22 games played with a recorded two points out of two years in the league.
Kreider will be eligible to return on Jan. 14 against the Avalanche if his health allows. Up to this point in the season, he has recorded 15 points including 13 goals; the most recent of which was the first goal of the game in a 7-4 loss to Washington.
Puck drop against Dallas at MSG is slated for 7:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 7th.