Man of the Week: Sheldon Rempal

KHL.ru’s weekly column returns with Sheldon Rempal. Salavat Yulaev’s top scorer had a great start to the new season, and is ready for new responsibilities as the Ufa team tries to reach new heights.

Sheldon Rempal is off to another strong start in Ufa, and last week provided further evidence of just how important the Canadian forward has become to the team. With long-time captain Grigory Panin unavailable, Rempal has taken on the added responsibility of wearing the ‘C’, and he responded with five points in just two games. His three goals included a remarkable 42-second double against Metallurg, before he found the net again in a 3–1 road win over Dynamo Moscow in the Russian capital.

The first of those performances came on Sept. 23, when Salavat Yulaev fell two goals behind against the Eastern Conference leaders. Metallurg appeared to be in control, but a five-on-three power play gave the hosts an opportunity to respond. Rempal needed only seconds to make his mark, scoring from the advantage before converting again on the ensuing five-on-four. Just 42 seconds had passed, and suddenly the game was level.

Metallurg eventually restored its lead and won 4–3, but Rempal’s contribution was impossible to overlook. The two goals underlined his ability to take advantage of a small opening and change the momentum of a game almost single-handedly.

Three days later, the forward produced another decisive moment. Visiting Dynamo Moscow had kept Salavat Yulaev under pressure early on, but in the 13th minute young Alexander Zharovsky found Rempal on the left side. The Canadian drove toward the net and fired a precise wrist shot into the top corner to open the scoring. He later assisted Devin Brosseau’s empty-net goal as Ufa secured a 3–1 victory in Moscow.

Early years

Born in Calgary, Alberta, on Aug. 07, 1995, Rempal spent three seasons with the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL before moving to Clarkson University. Rather than entering the NHL directly as a highly touted prospect, he developed gradually through junior and college hockey.

At Clarkson, Rempal’s progress began attracting attention from NHL organizations. After two high-level seasons in the NCAA, he signed with the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent in March 2018. In his collegiate conference, the ECAC, Rempal was awarded honors in both seasons, first in the all-rookie team, then in the overall first all-star team.

Making the NHL

Rempal made his NHL debut for the Kings on Oct. 18, 2018, at Staples Center. He appeared in seven games for Los Angeles that season while spending much of the campaign with the Ontario Reign in the AHL, where he recorded 40 points (15+25) in 49 games.

The NHL opportunities continued with Carolina and Vancouver, although they remained limited. His most productive AHL campaign came in 2021–22, when he led the Abbotsford Canucks in scoring with 69 points (33+36) in 55 games. By then, Rempal had established himself as a productive professional forward even if a permanent NHL role remained elusive. It’s however interesting to note that he scored his lone two goals in the NHL on Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shestyorkin, respectively.

Finding a home in Ufa

The KHL provided Rempal with a new opportunity, and Salavat Yulaev quickly became an important part of his career. After his first spell in Ufa, he returned to North America in the summer of 2025, but his absence from the club did not last the entire season. He returned to Salavat Yulaev during the campaign and once again became one of Viktor Kozlov’s most productive forwards.

Rempal finished the 2025-2026 campaign as Salavat Yulaev’s leading scorer with 54 (18+36) points in just 48 games, while also becoming one of the team’s principal playmakers. His season ended with one of the most memorable moments of his career: in Game Six of the first-round playoff series against Avtomobilist, he scored the second-overtime winner after Evgeny Kuznetsov had tied the game with only four seconds remaining in regulation.

That performance helped send Salavat Yulaev into the second round, and Rempal’s importance to the team was further underlined when he signed a new one-year contract in the offseason.

A new responsibility

Now, Rempal is not only expected to provide goals and assists. With Panin unavailable, he has also been entrusted with the captain’s ‘C’. The early signs have been encouraging. His latest five-point week continued a run of productive performances and showed once again that Rempal can influence games in different ways. For a player who took a less conventional road to the NHL and then found a prominent role in the KHL, becoming one of Salavat Yulaev’s leaders represents another significant step in his career.