PITTSBURGH — Gord Clark, the Rangers’ director of player personnel, was talking to The Post about perception not quite being everything during a conversation Thursday afternoon.
“The narrative is that the Devils beat us because they were bigger and stronger and then L.A. beat Jersey because they were bigger and stronger,” Clark said. “But you have to be careful about buying into that and you have to take qualities other than size and strength into account, too.
“For us, a primary one is talent.”
Friday night, with the 28th overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft, Clark and the Rangers went for talent, selecting skill-oriented, 6-foot-1, 215-pound defenseman Brady Skjei from the U.S.-Under 18 Development Team.
“He’s in the same vein as what’s been successful for us on defense,” said Clark. “He’s an elite skater, an elite athlete, a good, solid two-way guy.
“Defense was a major reason the US won the World Under-18 championship. He’s a horse on the ice, moves the puck, and has the big shot — a bomb from the power play point.”
Skjei, a Lakeville, Minn. native who is entering his freshman year at the University of Minnesota, said his selection by the Rangers was, “A dream come true.”
“If I could have picked a team, this would have been the team,” said Skjei, who referenced the potential opportunity to play with fellow Minnesotan Ryan McDonagh. “I think going to Minnesota with their coaching staff will help my game a ton so I keep progressing over the next couple of years.
“I’m ecstatic that the Rangers picked me. It’s awesome.”
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General manager Glen Sather told The Post why the Rangers will qualify impending restricted free agent Mats Zuccarello, who has agreed to a lucrative one-year deal with an additional one-year option with KHL Mettalurg Magnitogorsk that contains an NHL out-clause.
The qualifier is a two-way offer as mandated by the CBA for $900,000 on the NHL level and $67,500 on the AHL level.
“So we would keep his rights,” Sather “I understand he has to take the money over there but one day he might want to come back and I want it to be with us.”
The 24-year-old Zuccarello, the Norwegian who signed a two-year contract as a free agent with the Rangers two summers ago, played just 10 games with the Blueshirts last year. He was assigned to the AHL Whale after playing the first three games of the year with the Rangers and was not recalled until Mar. 11.
The winger then played seven games before going down with a season-ending fractured left wrist he sustained blocking a shot early in the first period of the Mar. 23 match at the Garden against the Sabres.
“I really liked the way he looked when he came back up,” Sather said of Zuccarello who recorded 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in 52 games over two seasons with the Rangers. “He was stronger, he was smart, he helped us on the power play.
“I’d like to see him come back.”
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The Rangers have picks 59, 89 and 119 overall as the draft concludes Saturday with Rounds 2-7, having traded their picks in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.
larry.brooks@nypost.com