Rangers make major lineup change as JImmy Vesey Returns: Rempe to Hartford

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Joshua Deeds
November 2, 2024 (3:23 PM)

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The New York Rangers bottom six is changing once again, as they have removed Jimmy Vesey from LTIR today.

They will place Vesey back into the lineup today, alongside Sam Carrick, and Adam Edstrom.

Brodzinski comes out of the lineup as well. With news of this, Rempe will be sent down to the AHL to get more seasoning in Hartford.

With Vesey healthy, the Rangers top-six is arguably ready to be a regular contributor to the offense. Vesey had suffered a lower-body injury during camp and allowed the Rangers to take a look at the depth available in Hartford and to utilize Jonny Brodzinski more.

But if you take a look at the statistics from his two seasons in New York, you can see why he's in the lineup compared to Rempe:

Vesey has appeared in 161 of 164 possible games the last two seasons, combining for 51 points (24 goals and 27 assists) in that span with a plus-nine rating and 50.33% xGF, according to Natural Stat Trick. He's added a little scoring punch to the fourth line, but it's his defense and sound decision-making that have become his primary values to the team.

While Rempe adds an intimidation factor to the Rangers' lineup, fighting has declined in the NHL which is another nail in the coffin of the enforcer position.

Just to give you an idea of how thedecline in fights has come, take a look at statistics from 2018-2019.

The rate for 2018-19 was 0.18 fights per game, which marks the first time that the average fights per game has dropped below 0.20. From 2000-01 to 2009-10, there were seven seasons in which the NHL had a fights-per-game average of more than 0.50.

Rempe will have to concentrate on building his offensive skills, as fighting phases out, and the amount of goals scored increases.

Hopefully he can take this time in the AHL, to put his skillset together and show Peter Laviolette he can be more than just an enforcer.