I am looking at head coach Peter Laviolette’s lineup card for Monday’s Garden match against the Red Wings, and I have become 12-year-old Josh Baskin at the meeting in which a line of robot-transformer toys are under discussion.
I don’t get it.
I don’t get it.
I don’t get why Big Matt Rempe was a healthy scratch for this game after getting seven shifts worth a sum of 3:40 in Saturday night’s 6-5 OT loss to Utah after having been scratched for last Wednesday’s opener in Pittsburgh.
I don’t get it.
I don’t get this at all.
Listen, this is no disrespect directed at Jonny Brodzinski, who replaced Rempe in Games 1 and 3, or perhaps it is more accurate to suggest that Rempe replaced Brodzinski for the home opener. Brodzinski is one of the best 750 hockey players in the world. He had an excellent camp.
Surely Laviolette’s explanation of his choice indicates that the coach believes Brodzinksi to be one of his team’s top 12 forwards.
The Rangers’ Matt Rempe collides with Utah’s Michael Kesselring during a game on Oct. 12, 2024.
“They’re different players. Again, sometimes I look at the opponent and they’re different in the way they play the game,” Laviolette said after the Blueshirts’ 4-1 victory over the Red Wings in which Brodzinski got 8:11 of ice time. “I think Jonny brings some speed and some pace.
“He’s a guy that had high-end production before he reached the NHL and still produced at a rate with [us] last year. Plays multiple positions, can jump in and take a faceoff, and I thought he played a pretty good game in Pittsburgh so we made a decision to switch it up.
“And we’ll make those decisions a lot this year,” the coach said following a bounce-back performance. “There will be lots of times when we have to pull players and take them out of the lineup.”
But still, let me ask you: Which of these two players would present more of a threat to the Florida Panthers in the conference finals, or to the 2025 version of the Florida Panthers because there’s always a bigger, stronger, more physical opponent under the rainbow?
Which of these two players has the potential to become a weapon in the spring?
Does it always have to be about winning the next game instead of using the regular season as a runway for the playoffs?
Or does Laviolette believe this team is not strong enough to withstand Rempe’s growing curve?
The Rangers, by the way, down the stretch while battling for the Presidents’ Trophy the head coach and the team coveted, were 14-2-1 with Rempe in the lineup.
What changed?
I have visited the Zoltar machine.
I don’t get it.
On Saturday night on his fourth shift, Rempe went to the front and set a Jack and the Beanstalk-type screen on Connor Ingram that allowed Victor Mancini to beat the blinded netminder from the right point at 4:54 of the second.
But the apparent goal was immediately waved off because Rempe’s heels were apparently in the crease, a goaltender interference judgment that was marginal enough for Laviolette to (unsuccessfully) challenge the call.
Two shifts later, linemate Adam Edstrom picked up a game misconduct in the same sequence in which fourth-line center picked up a fighting major. That was at 9:23 of the second period.
Peter Laviolette stands behind the Rangers bench on Oct. 9, 2024.
Rempe got one shift the remainder of the game, as did Sam Carrick. Of Rempe’s seven shifts, one lasted 12 seconds, one lasted 6 seconds and one lasted 5 seconds.
I am eating a baby-sized corn hors d’oeuvre as if it were a normal-sized corn on the cob.
I don’t get it.
The Edstrom-Carrick-Brodzinski unit got 3:55 of ice through two periods before adding another 3:00 or so in the third. The Rangers are relying on their potent top nine. It is difficult to be a four-line coach. I understand that.
Points are precious at any time of the year. I understand that, too.
Matt Rempe leaves the ice before the Rangers’ game on Oct. 12, 2024.
And if the Rangers lose four straight and are a hypothetical 5-7-3 after 15 games, I am not the one who is going to be called into the principal’s office and I also understand that as well.
But this still doesn’t make sense to me.
The Rangers have potentially the most unique fourth-line weapon in the league, and they’re stashing him in a silo.
The Rangers have potentially the most unique fourth line in the league with Edstrom and Rempe on the wings, but instead they are going conventional.
What happened over the summer? I am not going to put words in the mouth of Laviolette, one of the most successful coaches in NHL history, but it sure appears that Rempe has lost his trust.
But why?
I am dancing on the piano keyboard at FAO Schwartz playing “Chopsticks.”
I don’t get it.
