In a rare twist, hockey became the talk of the sports world this week. Why? That opening faceoff melee between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils that saw the immediate ejection of eight players, that’s why. Not because Auston Matthews is in a race for 70 goals in a season. Not because Artemi Panarin scored his 45th goal of the season in that game, which tied NHL legend Adam Oates for fourth-most goals in a season by an undrafted player, or because the NHL now has two players (potentially three) who have scored 130 points in a season for the first time in over 20 years. But because of a five-on-five brawl. In hockey circles, which includes fans, pundits, former players, and everyone in between, that can be a divisive thing.
Machismo, self-policing, and vengeance will rightfully be part of and have a place in this beautiful game. And whatever you want to call the game: a donnybrook, gong show, or wild mess, it understandably contained many of those elements. But overall, a five-on-five fight to open a hockey game between two close Divisional rivals is not a strong endorsement of the game as it is known and played today. Let’s look at the reasons why.
First, Some Throwbacks to Other Notable Opening Faceoff Brawls
March 29, 2012: Rangers and Devils
All-out melees are not an unfamiliar scene for Madison Square Garden. It has long been the venue for historic combat events, both on and off the ice. It also happens to be the site of one of the most recent opening faceoff brawls, when these same two teams went at it off the opening draw on March 29, 2012. Back then, Mike Rupp, Stu Bickel, Brandon Prust, Ryan Carter, and Cam Janssen were the guys mixing it up. Last night, it was Matt Rempe, Jacob Trouba, K’Andre Miller, Barclay Goodrow, Kurtis MacDermid, and others that threw down. Different players, but same teams, same arena, same chaos.
January 18, 2014: Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames
This one was nuts, and featured a who’s who of rugged NHLers, including a couple of vintage “enforcers”. You had Tom Sestito, Dale Weise, and Kevin Bieksa, among others, for the Canucks. For the Flames, Brian McGrattan, Kevin Westgarth, and others dropped gloves. Let us not forget about some of the other agitators on these rosters that night, but weren’t participants in the melee: Shane O’Brien, Ryan Kesler, Alexandre Burrows, and Dennis Wideman. Talk about gasoline for a fire.
However, this game was most notable for John Tortorella’s enraged storming of the Calgary Flames’ locker room in search of Flames head coach Bob Hartley. He, ultimately, was restrained by Flames players and never got to exact whatever type of revenge he planned on inflicting. Just a wild scene. Comically, Tortorella was behind the bench for the Rangers in their 2012 opening draw melee with the Devils.
Setting Context: Rising Tensions a Direct Result of Rempe’s Actions
It’s important to keep in mind the context from which the brawl originated. Before last night, Rempe had played against the Devils twice in his young career. On his first shift in their first matchup on Feb. 13, he took a few hard strides and blasted Nathan Bastian in the head, for which he was given a major penalty and ejection. In the very next matchup against the Devils, he inexplicably targeted the head of Jonas Siegenthaler with a flagrant and flared-out elbow. He was again ejected from the game and handed a four-game suspension. All the while, he waved to the Devils bench as he skated off the ice, and, until tonight, didn’t fight when immediately challenged. So, suffice to say, escalating tensions were bound, in some form, to reach its apex in this game. Nobody knew to what extent, not even the coaches of either team.
Now, with that established, let’s take a look why this form of “settling the score” did both teams more harm than good.
Teams Skated with 14 Players Apiece for Remaining 59:58 of the Game
Immediate ejections to four players on each team had immediate consequences on the personnel that remained in the game. It dramatically shortened each bench, forced coaching staffs to manage energy and ice-time more efficiently, and, perhaps most importantly, required the players to come together, step up, and keep their eyes on the bigger picture: a rivalry game that had to be won.
For the Rangers, who have rallied around Rempe and come together as a team of late, they need wins to pad their Metropolitan Division lead over the Carolina Hurricanes, who have been just has hot down the stretch. The Devils, on the other hand, are desperate for wins to avoid mathematical elimination from the postseason and thus a hugely disappointing follow-up season to their 112-point 2022-23 campaign. Plus, they’re dealing with questions surrounding Rempe’s actions. What kind of response were they going to give? How do you hold a 6-foot-7, 241-pound man accountable for his actions?
Rempe Is Tough, Yes, But at What Cost?
If there’s one thing we learned about Rempe in his brief career so far, it’s that he can take a punch and dish out suspension-worthy hits. However, he has incited a renewed excitement across the league in heavyweight fighting, having courageously gone head-to-head with some of the more battle-tested guys in the NHL, such as Matt Martin, Ryan Reaves, Nicolas Deslauriers, and now MacDermid. My only question is, what is it costing him?
Objectively speaking, an argument can be made that he has lost and gotten beat up in each fight. His balance isn’t great and he’s been caught with punches each time. He is 15 games into his career and is 21 years old. Think about that for a second.
You have to be able to play hockey in today’s game. Gone are the roster spots that used to be held for the bruiser who wouldn’t do anything but fight or intimidate. If Rempe can’t stay on the ice for more than a few shifts a game without taking damage, committing major penalties, or fighting, it begs the question of what kind of career he is going to have in the NHL and how long it will last. There’s no saying he won’t have a career; he’s young, big, and mean, so if he can turn the early reputation around then he will be a real menace in this league.
More Jack Hughes and Artemi Panarin, Less Matt Rempe and Kurtis MacDermid
Every once in a while, we are treated to a hockey game that bears resemblance to the game as it was played in its older days; the “Rumble in the Jungle” type-game. The type of game that gave rise to the phrase: “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out”. And in small doses, it can be fun. It can remind us of the reason that the aforementioned elements (fighting as a means of self-policing) exist within this sport to begin with. That being said, the NHL is probably better off when guys like Panarin, Jack Hughes, Chris Kreider, Nico Hischier dominate headlines.
Related: NHL Should Start the Process of Outlawing Fighting
But overall, this probably could have been avoided. Maybe Devils interim head coach Travis Green didn’t have to start his fourth line, prompting Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette to do the same. If Rempe and MacDermid found each other on a live shift, then we likely just get a one-on-one fight, and it ends there. It would have minimized the enormous risk of injury that inevitably rises when you have 10 guys engaged in fist-fighting on ice skates.