Rangers eager to get new season underway

Rangers training camp had a different kind of vibe this year, different from most years and certainly different from last year, when the Blueshirts were coming off a very satisfying run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2022.

This time, coming off a devastating first-round playoff loss to the Devils last spring, there seemed to be a real eagerness among the players to get started when camp opened last month. Everyone seems to be having the time of their lives.

“It’s been great,’’ center Vincent Trocheck said last week. “Preseason, training camp has been awesome. I think everyone’s excited. It’s a little bit different feel in here this year. We’re excited about what’s to come.’’

There’s an underlying feeling in the locker room that this Rangers core, which has been together for a few years, has a chance to write a much better ending to their season than last year’s, and that not getting past the first round is not acceptable for a team with the kind of talent the Rangers have.

“The goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and I think the team in here has the ability to do that,’’ Trocheck said. “I think the potential is to go all the way . . . We have to work every day, game by game, to make sure that we’re playing our best game.’’

There’s no question the Rangers have talent. Their goalie, Igor Shesterkin, won the Vezina Trophy and was a Hart Trophy finalist two seasons ago and an All-Star last season. Their No. 1 defenseman, Adam Fox, won the Norris Trophy three seasons ago and was the runner-up last season. Their top two scorers, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, each scored more than 90 points last season.

And their new coach, Peter Laviolette, has guided three different teams to the Stanley Cup Finaland won one title, with Carolina in 2006.

Laviolette is the biggest change from last season. The hands-on, detail-oriented 58-year-old replaced the laid-back Gerard Gallant, and the veteran players seem to relish the idea of a more structured system than the one they used to have.

“I think last year it was a little more laid-back, and I think we were maybe not as prepared as we should have been going into the first little bit of the season,’’ Trocheck said. “It’s been a little bit tougher camp, for sure. I think guys are definitely going to be in shape coming out of it. And I think we’re focused on the details a little bit more.’’

Whereas Gallant used to tell the media that systems were overrated and that most NHL teams generally run very similar stuff, Laviolette has been very open about the fact that he likes things done a specific way.

There has been plenty of video study and entire practice sessions devoted to teaching where each player is supposed to be in certain situations and what they are supposed to do with the puck. The idea is to go through the motions so often that they will come naturally, and players can just do what they’re supposed to do without having to think about it.

The Rangers’ preseason record (1-5) was ugly, but they believe the players have made progress in learning what they’re going to need to know.

“I think it’s definitely gotten better,’’ defenseman and captain Jacob Trouba said. “You can see, even for me, there’s some thinking involved in where you’re supposed to be, what [defensive set] we’re in .  .  . I think over the last couple of [preseason] games it’s gotten better, but yeah, it’s still an adjustment.

It’s still something we’ve got to work on. But I think guys are getting more and more comfortable with it.’’

Of course, systems alone are not going to win games for the Rangers, and Laviolette acknowledged that after a particularly ugly 5-3 loss to the Islanders at UBS Arena on Oct. 1.

“Backchecking is a universal language,’’ the coach fumed that night. “There’s no system involved there. Finishing your checks and competing for pucks is a universal language. Execution has to be a universal language.’’

Laviolette wants the Rangers to backcheck and to forecheck and to body check. He wants them to play with grit and effort. But those are all things Gallant wanted them to do when he was their coach. Gallant’s predecessor, David Quinn, wanted those things as well.

Only time will tell whether Laviolette is going to be able to get the Rangers to play with the grit and effort that his predecessors could not.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.