Matt Rempe is doing whatever it takes to stay in the NHL 

Former NHL enforcer Luke Gazdic joined Daily Faceoff Live and shined some light on New York Rangers tough guy “The Rempire State Building” aka Matt Rempe. With lots of backlash surrounding the 21-year-old and getting into a few energized scraps, some point fingers and are negative about the situation. Gazdic highlights why Rempe is doing what he is doing and what it truly takes to stay in the NHL as a tough guy.

Frank Seravalli: Opinions have been polarizing on the internet as of late because you got the snowflake crew saying “Oh my god CTE you can’t fight three times a week”  but then I look at the other side of it and this guy is trying to carve out a career and earn a living. If this is how he wants to enter and do it, what’s wrong with what ‘The Rempire State Building’ is doing?

Luke Gazdic: Yeah does he remind you of anyone else? He’s on a year right now and I feel for this I understand the situation and  I didn’t realize how much negative there would be on this side of it. I understand the health risks and why people are clamouring for that, u understand how I feel at age 34 after 176 fights and the risks that come with it but that’s what you sign up for. This is not a sustainable thing, he’s not going to be fighting every game but this is what you do when you enter the league and you want to carve out a niche for yourself. 

Luke Gazdic: When I got picked up by waivers by Edmonton I got pulled over by coach Dallas Eakins at the first skate and he said “You have 30 days here to show us what you got and we can evaluate you” and I took that as a challenge and I went after anybody in my path. I made it a challenge to myself. My goal was then either telling me to get a place and I made the team or that I had done enough and both happened. After a while they said “You’ll be here king term” and then after a couple of months, it became a challenge for even me to find fights as guys didn’t want to do it anymore. You heard his interview with Emily Kaplan, he was smiling and talked about excellent teammates, he doesn’t want to go back to Hartford. I was the same way I played four years in the AHL without a call-up and I didn’t want to go back there. I understand his intention and I do think he should play a bit more defense. With as big as he is and the reach he has he shouldn’t be getting hit as hard as he is. There’s a couple of tools and tricks that he can work on and I hope someone is in his ear for that. I don’t mind what he’s doing, it’s been a treat to watch.