NHL: New York Rangers at Dallas Stars - Source: Imagn

"Repeat Offender" Matt Rempe to forfeit $80,000 in salary for eight-game suspension

Modified Dec 23, 2024 06:27 GMT

New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe will forfeit $80,000 in salary for an eight-game suspension. The Rangers recalled the little-used forward fom the American Hockey League affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack.

While Rempe proved to be a forceful addition to the lineup, he went too far with his trademark physicality and has paid the price for it. After he leveled Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen with a hit from behind where his elbow was raised, Rempe was ejected and assessed a match penalty.

The ruling came on Sunday after the NHL Department of Player Safety offered an in-person hearing. Rempe will sit out the next eight Rangers games and won't be eligible to play in the NHL until Jan. 9.

According to TSN's Chris Johnston, Rempe will also forfeit a total of $80,000 in salary while he sits. The money will be donated to the Player Emergency Assistance Fund.

Rempe signed a three-year, $2,515,000 contract, and his cap hit for this season is $820,000. His suspension will result in nearly 10% of salary loss for 2024-25, coming out to $10,000 per game he sits out.

Matt Rempe's suspension is tied for second-longest in the NHL in recent memory

Matt Rempe's suspension is the secnd longest on-ice infraction since Tom Wilson's horrific hit on Sundqvist in September 2018, just months after he had helped them win their first Stanley Cup.

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Meanwhile, Ottawa's Shane Pinto was banned for 41 games, but his infraction was for breaking the NHL's strict rules on gambling.

However, Rempe is considered a repeat offender, considering that he has been ejected in four games during his NHL career, which is just 22 regular-season games long.

It's also the second time he has been suspended in his brief NHL career; he earned a four-game suspension last season for a hit where he lifted his elbow to the head of New Jersey's Jonas Siegenthaler.

Without Matt Rempe, the Rangers lost 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, coming fof a 3-1 win over the Stars on Friday.