Matt Rempe is back with Rangers but could return to Hartford soon

GREENBURGH — Matt Rempe enjoyed his weekend in Hartford. And that’s nice, because it’s entirely possible he will be going back there soon.

Rempe was back with the Rangers for practice Monday, then went with the team to Washington for Tuesday night’s game. But with Jimmy Vesey eligible to come off long term injured reserve and rejoin the roster after Friday’s home game against Ottawa, someone will need to go down to Hartford to make room for him, and that someone very well could be Rempe.

Rempe was sent to Hartford on Thursday night after playing in two of the Rangers’ first seven games. He played in a couple of AHL games Friday and Sunday for the Wolf Pack before being recalled Monday morning.

“I played [in the vicinity of] 17, 18, 19 minutes the last two games,’’ Rempe said. “I hadn’t played a lot of minutes a long while, so it was good for me, getting in all the game situations, [getting to] feel the puck and play . . . not just the physical side, but to play in a top-six role . . . and work on all that type of stuff. So it was really good. It was fun to go play some games.’’

Rempe, who made his NHL debut in the game against the Islanders at MetLife Stadium last season, instantly endeared himself to the fans by fighting often and landing some thunderous body checks. But he had an uneventful preseason and played very little in the two regular-season games in which he appeared this month, getting ice times of only 3:40 and 7:37. He had no goals or assists, no penalty minutes and no shots on goal and was 0-for-2 on faceoffs.

With Hartford playing a couple of home games Friday and Sunday and Jonny Brodzinski playing well on the fourth line, the Rangers decided to send the 22-year-old Rempe down to get some ice time.

“There was an opportunity to go and play in a couple games,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “He played a lot of minutes, played center, was on the power play, killed penalties, just took in a lot of ice time. I said before, I think it’s important for development to continue to happen. I feel like we were able to accomplish that for a couple games.’’

Rempe had no points or penalty minutes in his two games in Hartford and was a minus-3. But he took some faceoffs (he said he was credited with winning 60% in the first game, though he didn’t think he had won that often) and played on the power play and the penalty kill. That, he said, was something he’d never done before at the professional level.

“Obviously, it’s a big adjustment from going like seven, eight minutes [per game] here, where I’m going around, like, playing super-physical [and] that’s all that’s on my mind, playing physical, being smart with the puck,’’ he said.

Based on the lines and defense pairs at practice Monday — Rempe worked on the fourth line with Adam Edstrom and Sam Carrick and Brodzinski skated as an eighth defenseman in scrimmage drills — it appears Rempe will be in the lineup Tuesday.

With big, physical players such as Dylan McIlrath, Brandon Duhaime and the dreaded Tom Wilson on the Capitals’ roster, having the 6-9, 255-pound Rempe in the lineup probably makes sense.

After that, though, it might not.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.