Tom Wilson is not a fan favorite in New York.
Back in 2021, Wilson became public enemy number one among Rangers fans after being part of a line brawl that saw him throw punches at Pavel Buchnevich and shrug superstar Artemi Panarin off his back. The Rangers, as an organization, published a furious statement after Wilson avoided a suspension from NHL Player Safety, calling his actions a “horrifying act of violence”.
But notorious Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe has a different view of Wilson. Coming into the Capitals-Rangers first-round series, the six-foot-eight forward admitted he sees Wilson as an inspiration for his own career.
“Yeah,” Rempe said to The New York Post’s Mollie Walker when asked if he watched Wilson growing up. “A guy who I like the way he plays, plays hard. Very skilled player as well. It’s a guy who does a lot of different things. Obviously, I got a lot of respect for that guy. I think he’s a hell of a player.”
Rempe even admitted to watching Wilson hit highlights on YouTube.
“When I was younger, I think there’s this montage of him on YouTube just blowing guys up,” he said. “I used to watch that sometimes, it got me fired up. I know he’s a really good competitor.”
Wilson opened his NHL career at Madison Square Garden 11 years ago, participating in a playoff series between the Capitals and Rangers in the 2013 playoffs.
The rugged winger was more of a sideshow then, but eventually became a complete player, helping push the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2018 as a first-liner.
“Sometimes you’re young and dumb and don’t realize it,” Wilson said.
The 21-year-old Rempe is playing in his rookie season in the NHL and it’s unclear how much, if at all, he’ll be utilized in the series as Filip Chytil could return to the Rangers lineup. But if he does get a jersey, Rempe having a showdown with the Capitals’ top heavyweight is not out of the question.
“That first little bit of hockey, it’s a lot of fun,” Wilson said. “Guys are extremely physical. Plays are being made very fast. From there, you kind of settle in. I think hockey’s one of those things where you know it could be a seven-game series so right from the first shift you’re going out there. It’s bumps and bruises and all that. You want to be hard on the other team. You want to take away their time and space.”
Rempe suited up in 17 games for the Rangers this season, spending most of the year with AHL Hartford (43 games). The 2020 sixth-round pick tallied two points (1g, 1a) in the NHL, but made his presence more felt physically, posting over 4 PIMS a game and getting ejected multiple times. Rempe fought in his first shift in the NHL, dropping the gloves with the Islanders’ Matt Martin at the Rangers’ Stadium Series game.
His rap sheet goes on from there. Rempe fought four other times featuring bouts against heavyweights Nicolas Deslauriers, Mathieu Olivier, Ryan Reaves, and Kurtis MacDermid.
He also drew the ire of Player Safety, earning a four-game suspension in March for elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler in the head.
Wilson has not been shy to drop the gloves in the postseason, fighting four different times. His last bout was in 2020 when the Capitals played the Islanders in the first round of the bubble loffs.
And who knows — maybe Rempe and Wilson will cross paths during the series and show respect to each other in the most hockey-enforcer way possible: by attempting to face-punch each other.
