Rick Nash set up shop here, and over the last four years so have a bundle of big-time pros including Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Mats Zuccarello and Henrik Lundqvist.
And for each one of these seasons beginning with 2015-2016, Jesper Fast has been selected as the Players’ Player by a vote of his peers. Which is something even if you were unaware franchise royalty Jean Ratelle (1968-69 through 1979-71) and Brian Leetch (2000-01 through 2003-04) are the only two other athletes to have won the award four consecutive times since its inception in 1958-59.
“He is everything you want a teammate to be, on and off the ice,” Mika Zibanejad, who joined forces in New York with his fellow Swede in 2016-17, told The Post. “He does the little things shift-in and shift-out — forechecks, is hard on the puck, blocks shots. He sacrifices every day.
“Off the ice, he is a friend to everyone. Maybe he is not rewarded with the offensive numbers, but everyone here knows how important he is to our team. You can’t ask for more.”
Every Rangers forward wants No. 17 on his line. It has been that way for years. Ryan Strome, after hooking up with Fast for 7:01 at five-on-five in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Vancouver and quite unsolicited, gestured toward the winger’s vacant locker adjacent to his and said, “I love playing with this guy.”
Past tense, presently, for it will be Zibanejad (and left wing Artemi Panarin) who will reap the dividends of playing with Fast on Tuesday at MSG against the Coyotes, per the line shuffling orchestrated by David Quinn under which Chris Kreider will shift back to his natural left side with Brett Howden and right wing Kaapo Kakko while Strome skates between Brendan Lemieux and Pavel Buchnevich.
“He works hard and he keeps it simple,” Strome told The Post. “He’s not flashy, but he has more subtle skills that make his teammates better. He hunts the puck in tough areas, he’ll battle every time, he holds onto the puck, he goes to the net.
“He’s absolutely not a sexy player — and that’s nothing about his sexuality — but his work ethic sets the standard for the team. If he speaks up, you pay attention to what he says. He’s the guy who sets the example. His impact is obvious to everyone in this room.”
As I mentioned to Strome, I do not believe that I had ever before scribbled the words, “And that’s nothing about his sexuality,” into more than 30 years’ worth of notebooks. That, Strome and I agreed, is a good thing.
Fast has gotten a considerable amount of time on the top six even if he is more likely a bottom-six guy on a stronger team. He complements skill guys. But it wouldn’t matter whether his linemates were Tim Gettinger and Steven Fogarty rather than Zibanejad and Panarin. He’d play the same tenacious way.
“All my life, I have just tried to be myself,” Fast told The Post. “I want to play well, I want to do my job, be responsible at both ends of the ice and make it easier for my teammates. If they feel I am giving 100 percent for them, they will be there for me. No one succeeds without teamwork.
“Off the ice, I am not the most vocal guy, but I talk to guys if I see they are down and try to make them happy. I want to be a friend who is there for them. I try to be me.”
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Fast was the Rangers’ sixth-round, 157th-overall selection in the 2010 entry draft. Mark Stone, at 178, is the only player selected later with more NHL games played than Fast, 393 to 359. Stone is also the only player selected later in the draft to have outscored the New York winger, 334 points to 122. So, a success there for the scouting department.
The Kreider contract situation has received a fair amount of attention, but Fast is an impending free agent as well. This one is not complicated. Fast has far more value to the team wearing the Blueshirt than as a rental property who might bring back a second- or third-rounder in a deadline trade.
The Rangers need glue guys who play the game the correct way as they incorporate more and more youth into the lineup. Turning 28 next month, Fast has earned a multi-year extension off his current three-year deal worth an AAV of $1.85 million.
“I love New York, I love playing for the Rangers,” Fast said. “There have been some ups and downs, but I’m proud to be here and proud to be a New York Ranger.
“If they want to talk to me, I’m happy to do that. I would love to stay here.”
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