New York Rangers' Matt Rempe had a very busy first week in the NHL

What an incredible first week of NHL play for New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe. The 6-foot-7 Calgary, AB native was recalled from the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers AHL affiliate, to fill roster space after another big guy, 6-foot-5 forward Blake Wheeler, left the game vs. the Montréal Canadians on Feb. 15 with a lower-body injury. To say that it's been fun to watch him take on the big league is an understatement.

Rempe skated in his first NHL game on Feb. 18, which just so happened to be the day that the Rangers were battling the New York Islanders at the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union Stadium Series. Step one; make NHL history as the first player ever to debut in an outdoor game. Check.

After a rookie lap like no other, before the puck even hit the ice for his first shift his gloves dropped and he traded fists with notable tough guy Matt Martin — a decent tussle for his NHL first, backed by the booming crowd of Rangers fans at MetLife that were buckled in for an incredible Rangers comeback win. Rempe finished his first game with 5 PIMS and 4:26 TOI.

A couple of days later the Dallas Stars came to Madison Square Garden to take on a streaking Rangers squad. Rempe recorded no penalty minutes in Tuesday's match-up, but his physicality adds to the toughness of the fourth line. He recorded 5:08 TOI vs Dallas.

Two days later the Rangers started off a three-game road trip in New Jersey vs. the Devils. Just three minutes into the game Rempe sent Devils' winger Nathan Bastian into the boards with a headshot sending him straight to the locker room, which sparked a quick scuffle with defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler. Rempe was handed a match penalty and therefore was ejected after just 0:13 TOI in the Rangers' 5-1 win at the Prudential Center. He tallied 17 penalty minutes in those 13 seconds, not too shabby.

The weekend was next, rounding out Rempe's first week with Saturday and Sunday back-to-back games. First up, a visit to the Philadelphia Flyers, which gave us old school hockey fans a long, bloody tilt featuring Rempe and Philly's Nicolas Deslauriers. Five penalty minutes. Rempe also scored his first, although not pretty, NHL goal which ended up being the game-winner. With this win, the Rangers tied the longest winning streak in franchise history at 10 contests.

A look at his first NHL goal:

Then on a casual Sunday Funday, Rempe did this -- a challenge from Mathieu Olivier of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

As we have seen in this first week, Rempe will answer the call to fight. Although the Rangers left Ohio with a 4-2 loss to the Blue Jackets ending their quest for the longest winning streak in franchise history, Rempe found the score sheet again as he recorded an assist, 4:48 TOI with, guess what, five more penalty minutes.

What a week, let’s review: Rempe made NHL history with an outdoor contest as his first NHL game, he had 20:01 TOI with 32 PIM, four fights in five games, a +2 rating, one goal, one assist, and one game misconduct. Not bad for the kid, not bad!

Next up is the Blue Jackets, again, on Wednesday, but this time at the Garden.

What will Rempe do?