Matt Rempe knew that training in New York was the best option for him ahead of the 2024-25 season.
However, the fact that teammate Jonathan Quick opened his home to the 22-year-old made the end of his offseason all the more valuable.
The 6-foot-8 1/2-inch forward was the biggest kid in the Quick house this summer.
Quick's youngest son, Cash, tries to fight him every day.
And after Rempe taught him some of the tricks he learned from former enforcer Georges Laraque earlier this summer, Cash headbutted him the other day.
“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a good one,’” Rempe said with a grin from ear to ear after completing the on-ice tests in Tarrytown on Thursday. “It’s a lot of fun. We just go out and catch frogs. I’m not very good at catching frogs, I kind of scare them, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Jaclyn Quick, Jonathan's wife of 15 years, has been like a second mother to Rempe, he said.
The Quicks quickly (pun intended) captured the hearts of the Rangers last season with their team-first mentality and initiative to foster camaraderie by hosting team parties and dinners.
Rempe has been marinating in that environment for some time, as well as training with both Quick and Chris Kreider.
If Rempe makes the team after training camp (which is likely, barring a terrible training camp), the Calgary native would continue with the Quicks.
“Guy has won three Stanley Cups,” Rempe said of what he gets from living with the 38-year-old goaltender. “He’s a great mentor, an incredible player. He has a wealth of knowledge and I get to learn from that every day and do what he does. He takes me under his wing.
“He's going to be a Hall of Famer. It's an incredible opportunity for me to learn from him and his family and to stay and get comfortable with the kids.”
The spotlight that fell on Rempe as he exchanged fists with the Islanders' Matt Martin in his NHL debut Feb. 18 inside MetLife Stadium never went away.
He followed him during the offseason, during which he spent three days in Edmonton training with Laraque.
Rempe said she has been practicing power skating every day for the past two months with Kreider and skills and performance coach Christian Hmura.
“My balance is a lot better on my skates,” Rempe said of what improved. “I think my stride is a lot better. I’m carrying the speed better. All my edge work, agility, all that kind of stuff. We did a lot of individual edge work and a lot of skating stuff, balance. My hands, I worked a lot on my stickhandling to be able to protect pucks down low, make plays. I want to show that.”
The first day he did it.
Rempe skated with the first group starting at 8 a.m. Thursday, which was mostly made up of prospects who had not completed on-ice testing.
Since Rempe skated with the main group during informal sessions and did not attend rookie camp, he was included in that.
Rempe looked much more agile than last season and finished first in the sprints by a decent margin.
He looked fresh and strong, while some of the other players were clearly exhausted.
This is a promising sign for Rempe, who is expected to join the main group on Thursday.
“We really like what Matt did last year,” Laviolette said when asked if Rempe still needed to stay on the team, or if he had seen enough last year to make that decision. “I don't think it's fair to just pigeonhole players when there are people here that are trying to stay on the team.
“When young players are here, and that’s a young player who played some games for us last year, he’s trying to get into the team, just like different guys who were there today.”
