The New York Rangers' grit took a significant hit on Friday. According to multiple reports from members of the beat, forward Matt Rempe is headed to injured reserve and will undergo a surgical procedure on his thumb.
The move comes after the broken thumb, which had been nagging the fan favorite for months, failed to heal properly, forcing the team to opt for a more permanent solution just as the Olympic break concludes.
Matt Rempe is going on IR, per source. He's getting a procedure related to his persistent thumb injury stemming from the Ryan Reaves fight.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) February 20, 2026
Rempe's had a tough season
The 2025-26 season has been a major disappointment for Rempe. He's a player that's been hampered by this injury, and instead of shutting him down for good until things were completely better, the team rushed him back. To make matters worse, the Rangers aren't ruling out a come back for Rempe despite there only being 25 games left in a lost season.
Earlier in the month it was reported that Rempe was still having problems gripping his stick in January, and this was at a point where he'd been back in the lineup for 12 games after missing the previous two months. With the Rangers getting embarrassed by the Bruins, Rempe considered fighting, and doing so would have been an absolute disaster.
It was at this same time that Mike Sullivan talked about Rempe "being in a tough spot because he's trying to get better on the fly."
#NYR head coach Mike Sullivan's evaluation of Matt Rempe since coming back from injury:
— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) February 2, 2026
“I feel like Remps is in it right now. He's in a tough spot, because he's trying to get better on the fly here, so to speak. I think he's in a much better place than he was the last time he…
Again, such a decision was completely idiotic, because Rempe is a borderline NHL player when he's healthy. Even though he's trying to be more of a hockey player and less of an enforcer, his size and physicality allows him to have an impact. But if teams know that he can't fight or get as physical, that makes him less of a net positive on the team.
That he was still play compromised despite the team's place in the standings is something that makes absolutely no sense. The Rangers are a team likely to be picking in the draft lottery, and there's no need to bring Rempe back this year even if he does feel better.
This season Rempe has appeared in 26 games and has a 38.19 GF%, a 49.58 CF%, and a 51.41 xGF% in roughly 214 minutes at 5v5 in a fourth line role per Evolving-Hockey. He's scored one goal in that time frame, and is a minus four on the season while skating 8:30 per game.