The four-game suspension levied against Matt Rempe by the NHL provided enough time for the purple and green bruising around both of his eyes to fade away.
Marks from his five fights in 10 games are gone. The face of a 21-year-old kid remains.
His time away from game action also gave Rempe some space to calm down from the pandemonium in which the 6-foot-8 ½ forward has been engulfed since making his NHL debut just over a month ago.
“Just a learning experience,” Rempe said of his suspension for his high-elbowed hit on the Devils’ Jonas Siegenthaler. “Made a mistake, and just going to learn from it and grow. At 21, still got to learn lots of things. Watching games, you learn a lot. I can go watch a lot of the older guys and see what they’re doing.
“Got lots of great reps in practice, got to work on my skill, got to work on a lot of things. It was great. Obviously, you never want to be suspended, but you learn things, and you get better and you grow.”
Rempe showed remorse for his actions, which concussed Siegenthaler and sidelined him the next four games.
It prompted George Parros, the head of the league’s department of player safety, to essentially throw the book at the first-time (technically, but not really) offender.
The next step for Rempe is to continue learning how to toe the line. Play hard, but also clean.
“More control of my body, just stuff like that,” he said of what he’s learned. “If a guy is pulling out of a hit, just got to be careful. It was an accident. I thought I was going to hit the wall. … Never want to see a guy get hurt or anything like that. I’m still going to play super-hard, play the same way.
“I’m just going to make sure my hits are clean, like, keep everything compact, keep everything tight. It will be good. Just live and learn.”
There’s obviously no question Rempe’s elbow came up and hit Siegenthaler, but the rookie said he did not realize he made contact with the Devils’ defenseman.
Head coach Peter Laviolette said after the fact he also thought Rempe was bracing himself to hit the wall.
Still, Rempe recognized that it does not excuse the fact that his elbow was not kept in tight. He called it a mistake and, again, apologized for how it all unfolded.
There was uproar in the Devils’ locker room after that 3-1 Rangers win on March 11, led by forward Kurtis MacDermid. Understandably so, considering the fact that Siegenthaler was the second Devils player Rempe had knocked out of a game, after he ran through Nathan Bastian during the previous meeting Feb. 22.
MacDermid openly challenged Rempe that night for his hit on Bastian, who has been out ever since with a lower-body injury.
After Rempe declined, MacDermid went after him again after the Siegenthaler hit, but the refs kept the two apart.
“I had my instructions,” Rempe said of refusing MacDermid. “I had my instructions before the game and stuff.”
The Rangers signed Jaroslav Chmelar to a three-year, entry-level contract Wednesday, the team announced.
Chmelar, the Blueshirts’ 144th-overall pick in the 2021 draft, is leaving Providence College in the middle of his sophomore season to join the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The 20-year-old forward recorded 12 goals and 16 assists in 59 career games for the Friars. This season, Chmelar posted five goals and 10 assists in 26 games.
It’s been an exciting few years for Chmelar, who helped Czechia win a silver medal in the 2023 World Junior Championship with three goals and two assists in seven games.