The ‘enforcer’ role had looked like it was slowly being eliminated from professional hockey. Then a hulking New York Rangers rookie emerged
Near the start of the third period on Saturday night in Toronto, it finally – and inevitably – happened. Leafs’ tough guy Ryan Reaves squared-off at centre ice with Matt Rempe, the hulking New York Rangers rookie. Rempe, a 6ft 7in, 240lbs centre, has one goal and one assist in his first seven games in the NHL. He also has 37 penalty minutes, five more than he’s spent actually playing on the ice. He’s what most people would call an “enforcer” – a role that in recent years has been more or less phased-out of the NHL. That’s not to say there aren’t guys around still who are willing to drop the gloves or play a more physical than finesse game – every team has at least one. But what Rempe is doing is different.
Rempe has, so far, spent most of his time fighting. This kind of thing hasn’t been seen in the NHL for years for a few reasons. For one, guys were dying. The off-ice deaths of enforcers Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak, and Rick Rypien within just months of each other in 2011 were a catalyst for change. In the years since, the case against the so-called “goon” has strengthened. Multiple studies have, for instance, linked fighting to CTE – even though the NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, still disputes the link. But there was another change in hockey around the same time: analytics. In recent years, every player and prospect has become subject to intense data-based analysis, and teams search endlessly for quantifiable metrics – alongside human scouting reports – to chart a path to victory. An enforcer doesn’t easily fit within this new matrix. They rarely generate points and they typically don’t skate well or quickly enough, let alone create things like consistent successful zone entries.
