Rick Nash’s first year as a Ranger concluded with a postseason one-goal fizzle that largely overshadowed a regular season throughout which he was the team’s most imposing forward.
“I think what happened in the playoffs easily could have had that effect on people,” Nash told The Post following Tuesday’s penultimate practice prior to Thursday night’s opener in Phoenix. “It was what it was, but it’s over and done with and I’ve moved on and when that situation arises again I’ll learn from it and produce more.
“I thought there were stretches during the regular season where I was at the top of my game, My goal is always to improve and try to be better.
“I think I have more in me.”
Nash, who will open on a line with Derek Stepan in the middle and Brad Richards on the left, scored a club-leading 21 goals in 42 games last season. He was dangerous one-on-one, at times unstoppable driving to the net from his right side off-wing.
Somehow, Nash drew only nine minor penalties all year despite being consistently hooked and slashed by beaten defensemen, after having drawn 37 in 82 games as a Blue Jacket the previous season. He drew 0.8 penalties per 60 minutes as a Ranger following five years in Columbus in which he drew 1.9, 1.5, 1.4, 1.4 and 2.0, respectively.
Nash, who never seems to lose his cool and almost never challenges officials, has no control over penalty calls. He does, though, have control of his own game. He said on Tuesday he feels more comfortable entering this year than he did 2012-13.
“Having a three-week camp in which to get to know the guys is definitely a help,” said the 29-year-old, who was married over the summer. “There’s a familiarity that was missing last year.”
Stepan, who centered Nash in 19 regular-season matches and three in the Stanley Cup playoffs, will be in a familiar spot centering the Rangers’ presumptive first line. It will be anything but that for Richards, who occasionally played wing in Tampa Bay on a line centered by Vincent Lecavalier in the first half of the last decade.
“It’s a little foreign to me, but at the same time I’m going to be with a pair of talented guys, so that will make the transition easier,” Richards told The Post. “There’s a lot more movement involved at center, at wing you’re isolated a little bit more at times, so I’m sure there will be times when I catch myself drifting when I shouldn’t.”
Coach Alain Vigneault did not consult Richards before making the move. Vigneault said he wanted to be able to fit his top three centers — Stepan, Richards and Derick Brassard — into his top two lines at least until Ryan Callahan joins the lineup, which could perhaps be as early as Monday’s Game 2 in Los Angeles.
“I’m not reading anything into it,” Richards said. “I think with those two guys out, [Vigneault] wanted to get his offensive guys onto two lines and not spread them out over three lines.”
It turns out that is exactly Vigneault’s thought process regarding the move that is likely to be a temporary one, though if Richards returns to the middle, the coach will have to face the issue of having five centers — including Brian Boyle and Dominic Moore — for four slots. Of course, that’s better than having three centers.
“Of Step, Brass and Brad, all three deserve to play in our top six,” Vigneault said. “I know Brad has played the wing before.
“He probably prefers to play the middle, but I didn’t ask.”
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There has been no progress in contract talks between the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist. The Blueshirts are thus destined to enter the season with their franchise goaltender, their captain (Callahan) and their first-pair right side defenseman (Dan Girardi) on the walk years of their respective deals.
Callahan, who skated on a spare even-strength unit with Hagelin, jumped in on the first power play unit that included Nash and Stepan up front and Richards and Marc Staal at the points.
“I don’t think Ryan is that far away from stepping into the lineup,” the coach said.