Here’s some indirect advice from one Derek to another; from the Yankees’ Jeter to the Rangers’ Stepan, who in another 10 days will be skating on the rink at the Stadium that will cover the portion of the infield on which the shortstop makes his living.
That counsel, unknowingly delivered during the summer of 2011 when Jeter was batting in the .250s as late as the first week of July, is that Stepan should not look at the scoreboard where his numbers are flashed a few stories high.
“I never look,” Jeter said at the time. “I don’t need to be reminded.”
There are five games beginning with Thursday night’s match at the Garden against the Red Wings before Stepan skates on the Stadium ice Jan. 26 against the Devils for the center to change the narrative, but the numbers that currently would go on the scoreboard behind the bleachers are enough to make anyone look away: 7 goals and 20 assists for 27 points in 48 games.
“Of course it bothers me,” Stepan told The Post following Tuesday’s morning skate. “For sure it weighs on me.”
Stepan recorded 18 goals and 26 assists for 44 points to lead the Blueshirts in scoring in last year’s 48-game season.
He began this season with a 12-game drought, not getting his first goal until Nov. 1, when he recorded a hat trick against Carolina. He has gone 12 straight again without a goal leading into the match against the Red Wings.
“Goal-scoring can kind of be a fluky thing, so you can go through a stretch where you don’t get one,” the fourth-year pro said. “But to have two stretches like this within a couple of months of one season, I’ve never had that before, so yes, I’m obviously aware of it and not happy about it.
“I think I’ve played pretty well other than that, I’ve had good looks for the most part, and I’ve gotten the puck to my linemates [Rick Nash and Chris Kreider]. But I can’t say that I’ve played well without scoring.”
The Stepan unit is at least nominally the Rangers’ first unit, and thus generally draws the opposition’s top defense pair and forward line as a match. This theoretically allows the lines centered by Brad Richards and Derick Brassard to draw more advantageous matchups.
“There are challenges that go with being matched [against the other team’s top offensive players],” coach Alain Vigneault said. “You have to make sure to be on the right side of the play and keep the puck in front of you, and that can mean less opportunities.
“On that line, Step is usually the low guy [in the defensive zone] and that can also be challenging. On the other hand, players on the top line like to cheat on the offensive side, so he should be able to get some good opportunities.
“One thing I know is that Step is very demanding of himself and wants to improve,” the coach said. “Those are great qualities for a player, who is very young and in my estimation is only going to get better.”
The 23-year-old missed training camp in a contract dispute that was resolved on the cusp of the season opener. It allowed for only three days of practice before the first game in Phoenix on Oct. 3.
“The first 10 or 15 games, for sure it had an impact on me,” said Stepan, who signed a two-year deal carrying an annual $3.075 million cap hit. “I don’t think either side wanted it to go as long as it did, but that’s not something I point to now as a factor.”
Stepan’s halting season did not preclude him from being selected to the U.S. Olympic Team that will compete next month in Sochi. His work for Team USA in the 2010 World Juniors and the 2011 World Championships no doubt was a factor.
“I knew I was a bubble guy, for sure, and so it weighed pretty heavily on me from day to day, but it’s not something I brought onto the ice with me for the games,” he said. “I was relieved and proud to be selected.”
Stepan has a plus 0.9 Corsi rating relative to the rest of the team’s attempts for/against when he’s not on the ice, seventh best among Rangers forwards. He was plus 5.0 last year, third among the team’s forwards.
“I think there are things I’m doing well, I’m working hard on playing the right way and living up to the coaching staff’s expectations, which aren’t really any different from the last guy’s expectations,” Stepan said. “But from my own personal expectations, and certainly when it comes to scoring goals, it hasn’t been good enough.”
The scoreboard at Yankee Stadium would indicate that … if he were to make the mistake of looking at it, that is.