New York Rangers place Matt Rempe on IR

The New York Rangers will come out of the Olympic break without their enforcer available, as towering forward Matt Rempe needs another procedure on his thumb and will land on injured reserve once the NHL season resumes.

According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, reporting from Milan, Rempe's expected to have another procedure completed on his left thumb, and he's going to miss several weeks to recover.

Some #NYR news from Milan: Matt Rempe will have another procedure done on his thumb. He is going on IR.

— Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) February 20, 2026

While the Rangers have yet to put a stamp on the timelines to return, there's no doubt Rempe is going to miss significant action. He originally suffered the injury back on Oct.23 after he was involved in a fight with San Jose Sharks veteran enforcer Ryan Reaves. The two have a long history, so no surprise they dropped the gloves, however, Rempe certainly got the worst of it.

Rempe went on to miss 24 games after his tilt with Reaves, and returned mid-December, however, that's when he broke his thumb and underwent his original surgery.

While the Rangers have healthy scratched Rempe throughout this season, there's growing speculation from multiple reports that it had more to deal with the status of his thumb, and not necessarily because he wasn't 'making' the lineup.

In 26 games this season, the towering Rempe has scored just one goal, dating back to the early stages of October. He's averaging just 8:36 of ice-time, so the question is certainly circulating on just how effective Rempe can be on a nightly basis, and not being available due to injury is certainly not helping his chances of sticking around the big club in New York.

Photo credit:  Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images