Matt Rempe Goes Against His Teammates After the Firing of Peter Laviolette

Following the firing of Peter Laviolette by Rangers general manager Chris Drury, bruising forward Matt Rempe made it clear that he wasn't happy about it.

The New York Rangers are only a year removed from earning the President's Trophy and advancing to the Eastern Conference Final.

That wasn't enough to save the job of now-former head coach Peter Laviolette, who was terminated by general manager Chris Drury over the weekend after he failed to leave New York to the playoffs.

One player who isn't happy to see Laviolette go is bruising forward Matt Rempe, who believes that the seasoned head coach was a great mentor for him in his early NHL career.

Me and Lavi were really close. He was great to me and gave me an opportunity last year and talked to me pretty much every day. I think he helped me a lot for sure. Nothing but the best and obviously I think he'll be a big mentor for me throughout my career and I learned a lot from him, and I think he was awesome for me.

I think always players feel, like you said, on the ice that we didn't perform well enough and then the coach takes the fall. That stinks. It's tough. He was awesome for me, and I'm going to miss seeing him.

In February, Laviolette expressed his happiness with Rempe's overall game but noted one area that he wanted to see improvement in.

I think he's done a good job. I would still like to see with the puck offensively. Just generating, simple mindset, get it on net, good stuff like that. He's come in and played pretty good defense and chipped in with some good physicality. I'd like to push that offensive boundary just a little bit.

Rempe and the Rangers will have a new coach in 2025-26.