Rempe deflected a puck off his ass once, and plays 17 seconds a game.
Sample size matters.
Edström is superior in every way which is why he's playing over Rempe and hasn't even been a healthy scratch once this season unlike Vesey, Rempe, Brodzinski and even Smith.
Causing havoc in front of the net & scoring a goal off your ass counts just as much as scoring any other way, the Rangers would probably score more if they were willing to use their asses.
Does not being scratched mean you're a better player than guys who've been scratched? The coaches trust and decisions determine who's the better player? So was Rempe the better player than Edstrom last year since he made the team and was with them through the playoffs and Edstrom wasn't? Do you agree with everything the coaches do? I don't think so, I think Edstrom is safe player who plays hockey "the right way". Maybe the low's aren't as low but the highs aren't as high. That's why he hasn't been scratched when Vesey, Smith, Brodz etc have.
When they were both playing in Hartford last season from the beginning of the year to Rempe's call up in February; over a much larger sample size; comparing apples to apples... Rempe was the leading even strength goal scorer on the team. And 2 years younger. Edstrom made tremendous strides from last season to this one, and I don't see why Rempe can't do the same. Also "superior in every way"? Certainly not at intimidation. Edstorm's "fight" where he kept a glove on was comical, the only similarity there is that they're both big.
Not to mention all of the intangibles, the vibes, fun etc Rempe brings which clearly do matter. I've also never heard the crowd chant "Edstrom", he does not change the momentum the way Rempe did. Rempe's biggest moment was scoring the opening goal of the Stanley cup playoffs, Edstroms biggest moment was dominating a rookie camp game. One of the biggest reasons we're terrible this year is the bad vibes around the team after Drury blew up some of their leadership core.
I think I should put together some highlights from some plays Rempe made during his Rangers stint last year because people are clearly forgetting a lot of great plays he made as they're only thinking of him as a goon. He had some absolutely dominant shifts in the playoffs. He was also leading the team in xGF and all the fancy charts in a bunch of games, and everyone including the analytics crowd on here loved him, then he got all this hype around his fighting and now all of a sudden Rempe is some caveman sideshow even though they said otherwise before.
