NHL

Avery’s edge missing for Rangers

Ever since John Tor torella came to New York late last February, the Rangers’ head coach has responded to questions about Sean Avery by saying, “It’s not about Sean Avery.”

Which has been undoubtedly true this season.

It has not been about Sean Avery.

Not even a little bit.

Which is perhaps the most significant reason the Rangers have been much too easy to play against through an uneven opening 20 games, even with a volatile head coach behind their bench and even with Avery on the roster.

But this has been Avery in name only. The snarl has been missing. The edge has been missing. The uniqueness that most often defies definition has been missing.

The Avery that New York has come to know and embrace has been missing, replaced by a low-profile imposter who could be just about anyone but isn’t someone the Rangers particularly need.

This Avery might even get Gary Bettman’s seal of approval.

The overriding question regarding Avery’s loss of identity has been whether Tortorella, who memorably trashed No. 16 when working for TSN last winter, has stolen it from him.

The underlying question is whether Tortorella habitually says it’s not about Avery because he doesn’t want it to be about Avery.

The head coach addressed many of those issues yesterday in the aftermath of Saturday’s 2-1 shootout victory in Ottawa, during which Avery had one of his most involved games of the season.

“It’s very important for the club for Sean to show his personality,” Tortorella told The Post. “I think there are a lot of people around the club and who follow the club who think that the coaching staff is holding Sean back from being who he is.

“That is not the case. I want and we want Sean to be who he is. And he knows that, I guarantee you that he knows that. We’ve talked to Sean. It’s not only the coaches. Everyone in the organization has told Sean that he needs to show his personality out there.”

The referees don’t seem to be officiating games with the double standard they employed last year upon Avery’s return to the NHL that jeopardized his safety. Avery has kept his verbal interaction with officials to a minimum. That has been a healthy change.

But Avery has been playing on tiptoes, as if walking a tightrope. He has largely been a cipher, reluctant to engage opponents. Fact is, Avery has been playing as if afraid that one mistake would consign him to the bench.

Tortorella, however, insisted that No. 16 has no reason to feel like a Lone Ranger.

“Sean took a step in the right direction [Saturday] by playing the way he needs to play in order to be effective,” said Tortorella, who gave Avery 16:26, including 3:20 of PP time. “You know when he’s on his game when people on the other team are running around looking for him.

“It’s important for our team for Sean to continue to play that way. When he does that, he’s going to get ice time, but as I’ve told him, he won’t get the ice time so he can be effective; he has to be effective and earn it first. We need Sean Avery to be Sean Avery. His job is to play right on the edge and I don’t think he’s been doing that by a long shot.

“His job is to get there and it’s my job to let him know when he goes over the edge. That’s been the arrangement we’ve had from the start. And Sean knows what we want and expect from him. We have had meeting after meeting about this. We’ve had umpteen of them. He definitely should know.”

larry.brooks@nypost.com