Matt Rempe knew that training in New York was the best thing for him ahead of the 2024-25 season.
The fact that teammate Jonathan Quick opened his home to the 22-year-old, however, made the end of his offseason even more valuable.
The 6-foot-8 ½ forward was the biggest kid in the Quick household this summer.
The Quick’s actual youngest child, Cash, tries to fight him every day.
And after Rempe taught him some of the tricks he learned from former enforcer Georges Laraque earlier this summer, Cash headbutted him the other day.
“I was like, ‘Oh that’s a good one,’ ” Rempe said with an ear-to-ear smile after completing on-ice testing in Tarrytown on Thursday. “It’s a lot of fun. We just go out there and catch frogs. I’m not very good at catching frogs, I kind of scare them away, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Jaclyn Quick, Jonathan’s wife of 15 years, has been like a second mom to Rempe, he said.
The Quicks quickly (pun intended) captured the hearts of the Rangers last season with their team-first mentality and initiative to foster camaraderie by organizing team parties and dinners.
Rempe has been marinating in that environment for some time, in addition to training with both Quick and Chris Kreider.
If Rempe makes the team out of training camp — which is likely, barring a terrible training camp — the Calgary native would continue bunking up with the Quicks.
“Guy’s won three Stanley Cups,” Rempe said of what he gets out of living with the 38-year-old goalie. “He’s a great mentor, unbelievable player. Has a plethora of knowledge and just to learn from every day and do what he does. He takes me under his wing.
“He’s going to be a Hall of Famer. It’s an unbelievable opportunity for me to learn from him and his family and stay and be comfortable with the kids.”
The spotlight that found Rempe as he traded fists with the Islanders’ Matt Martin in his NHL debut on Feb. 18 inside MetLife Stadium never left.
It followed him through the offseason, during which he spent three days in Edmonton training with Laraque.
The last two months, Rempe said he’s been power skating every day with both Kreider and skills and performance coach Christian Hmura.
“My balance is way better on my skates,” Rempe said of what he improved on. “I think my stride is a lot better. I’m carrying speed better. All my edgework, agility, all those types of stuff. We did a lot of single edgework and a lot of skating stuff, balance. My hands, I worked a lot on my stick handling to be able to protect pucks down low, make plays. I want to showcase that.”
On Day 1, he did.
Rempe skated with the first group beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday, which largely featured prospects who hadn’t completed on-ice testing.
Since Rempe skated with the main group during the informal sessions and didn’t attend rookie camp, he was included in that.
Looking way more limber than last season, Rempe finished first during sprints by a decent margin.
He looked fresh and strong, while some of the other players were clearly gassed.
That’s a promising sign for Rempe as he’s expected to join the main group on Thursday.
“We really like what Matt did last year,” Laviolette said when asked if Rempe still had to make the roster, or if he had seen enough last year to already make that decision. “I don’t think it’s fair to just box guys in or out as people are here trying to make the team.
“When the young players are here, and that’s a young player who played some games for us last year, he’s trying to make the team, as are different guys who were out there today.”
