Devils fans absolutely hated Rempe after he hit Bastian, and were calling for his head since that game. I actually felt very bad for Bastian that he had the facial injuries he did. I thought the Devils trainers made a terrible decision to let someone whose face looked as disfigured as it did re-enter a game. But the reality is that it was nowhere near a dirty hit. It was 2 minutes for charging at most. The refs over-charged the hit because it looked gruesome. The NHL certainly would've suspended him there after all the commotion if it was a suspendable hit. It simply wasn't. Bastian had his head down, and Rempe had his elbow tucked. Hit him with his shoulder.
Your team literally traded for a guy who can't play any hockey so he can deter Rempe, and he didn't deter anything. Why would Rempe fight him? Macdermid is one of the worst players in the league. His team is icing him to the detriment of his team. The more he's on the ice the better for the opposing team. Rempe is a huge asset to his team on the other hand. He's rightly started refusing these staged fights because his team doesn't benefit.
Chances are no one is going to run Fox or Panarin. There are like 3 or 4 guys in the NHL that play anywhere resembling a fierce hitting style. The only two teams that have remotely been upset about Rempe hits are the Devils and Leafs. The Devils and Leafs are like the two softest team in league. They both have enforcer "tough guys", but neither does anything except staged fights to contribute. I'm not at all worried that Rempe will cause players to run Rangers after the evidence we have from those 10 games.
