The New York Rangers have the worst record in the Metropolitan Division, ten games into the season. There are plenty of reasons for the sluggish start, including the injuries that have hampered their forward core. Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan gave a mixed bag of injury updates on forwards Matt Rempe and Vincent Trocheck.
“Matt Rempe is going to be out “longer term,” per Mike Sullivan,” New York Post's Mollie Walker reported. “Vincent Trocheck resumed skating for the first time yesterday, and skated again today.”
Rempe is the Rangers enforcer who burst on the scene during the 2023-24 season. Since then, his skating and offensive touch have improved slightly. But Rempe's most important trait is his physicality, which has been missing from New York's lineup in his absence. He has not played since an October 23rd fight with Ryan Reaves of the San Jose Sharks.
Trocheck is the opposite, bringing an offensive touch to the Rangers' top six. He was second on the 2023-24 Rangers with 77 points, taking a step back last year with just 59. Trocheck's upper-body injury came in the second game of the season, and he is on long-term injured reserve.
The Rangers need to get hot quickly to avoid another season slipping away. Sullivan was hired because head coach Peter Laviolette was made the scapegoat for missing the playoffs last year. But the two-time Stanley Cup champion has not been able to crack the code quite yet.
The Rangers are in Vancouver for an intriguing matchup with the Canucks on Tuesday night. Captain JT Miller was traded from Vancouver to New York last season amid some locker room drama with Elias Pettersson. Vancouver is .500, so neither team is peacocking early in the season.
Trochek and Rempe are both key, in different ways, to what the Rangers are trying to accomplish this year. Sullivan needs both to make the playoffs this year.
