Baugh: As the Matt Rempe hype train builds, is it time to pump the brakes?

Matt Rempe’s face tells a story. The forward took the ice Saturday in Toronto with bruises under both eyes, especially his left, which has gone between various shades of purple since his Feb. 25 fight with Mathieu Olivier.

Over the past two weeks, the 21-year-old has gone from a Rangers’ organizational depth piece to a name known around the league, mainly because of his gargantuan 6-foot-8 frame and his pair of fists that always seem ready to punch. Fans asked him for photos while he ate at the Cheesecake Factory this past week, and some Rangers supporters started calling him the “Rempire State Building.” He’s emerged as a cult hero and was once again a storyline entering the Maple Leafs game. That was because of Toronto’s Ryan Reaves, one of the league’s premier tough guys.

Sure enough, after seeming to ignore Reaves’s challenges for the majority of the game, Rempe threw off his gloves and raised his fists with 5:59 left in the third period. He somewhat successfully used his long arms to limit Reaves’s punches, but by the end, the Toronto forward had landed multiple unanswered blows.

It was Rempe’s fourth NHL fight. He’s played seven games.

Is this healthy? Is this sustainable? Is this fair to a 21-year-old with a whole life ahead of him?

I got swept into the excitement through the first few games of Rempe’s career. Islanders veteran Matt Martin asked him if he wanted to fight in his debut, and the rookie happily obliged. He did the same against Nicolas Deslauriers three games later in Philadelphia, engaging in a back-and-forth bout that lasted almost a minute. He scored the game-winning goal, gave a memorable postgame interview on ESPN and seemed to be having the time of his life.

Then came his fight with Olivier. The Blue Jackets’ forward gave Rempe his “welcome to the league” moment, clobbering him with punches. With that, Rempe had fought on back-to-back nights and three times in five games. It started to feel less fun and more concerning.

The Reaves fight in particular didn’t make much sense. Rempe has already proven he can fight and isn’t afraid of anyone. Perhaps he felt he needed to answer for a hit that he laid on defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin in the second period, but nearly a full period had passed since then. The Rangers were down a goal, so maybe he wanted to fire up the bench. But would Vincent Trocheck have been any less motivated to score the equalizer had Rempe not traded punches? It all felt needless. Just fighting for the sake of fighting, of which Rempe has already done plenty.

Rempe played 43 games with AHL Hartford before making his NHL debut. In those games, he fought seven times, per HockeyFights.com. The season before, he fought nine times for Hartford in 53 games, and he had seven fights in 56 games his final junior season.

So, in his past 152 non-NHL games, he’s had 23 fights. That’s one in around 15 percent of his games — a significant amount, but not the one every-other game pace he’s fighting at in the NHL. And nowadays he’s not going against junior or AHL players. He’s fighting with some of the toughest customers in the league and taking frequent blows to the head. That’s no joke.

Rempe has autonomy in all of this. The fights with Martin, Deslauriers and Olivier all came on early shifts of the game. He wasn’t answering the bell for past misdeeds and could’ve said no. Going forward, he should do that more. Not every challenge has to end in a fight, even while he’s trying to stay in the NHL as long as possible.

The Rangers also have a role to play in how he handles his ice time. They shouldn’t be encouraging Rempe to overdo this. And in fairness, they might not be. Rempe glanced toward his bench before accepting his invitation to fight Reaves, and it looked like Trocheck might’ve motioned for him to skate away. When asked if he’s had conversations with Rempe about fighting, coach Peter Laviolette has repeated that he has conversations with his players “all the time” but told reporters those stay between him and those individuals.

The energy Rempe has brought to the Rangers is undeniable. The dressing room appreciates the physicality and edge that he brings. But everyone — from coaches to fans salivating over his fights to Rempe himself — has to think about more than just the jolt of excitement a fight injects into an arena. Rempe’s health has to come first, and sometimes the best way to protect it is by saying no.

(Photo: Michael Chisholm / NHLI via Getty Images)