It didn’t come with the first practice, it didn’t come with the first preseason game, and it won’t come until the games start to mean something.
But eventually, Kevin Shattenkirk is planning on feeling that hometown pressure, the pressure he signed up for this summer when he took a deal below market value to sign with the Rangers, the team he grew up rooting for as a kid in New Rochelle.
“It’s not here yet, but it’s looming,” Shattenkirk told The Post, with his team readying for a preseason game against the Islanders at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena on Friday night. “It’s not a bad thing. It’s something I’m anticipating and I’m ready for. I knew coming into making this decision that it would be there, so it’s not like it’s going to hit me like a brick wall. I think that’s just the pressure of playing in New York, as well. You just have to perform on the big stage, and I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”
Shattenkirk made his preseason debut at the Garden on Wednesday night, collecting three assists (two on the power play) in his team’s 4-3 overtime win over the Devils. There still is a long way to go until he feels comfortable and a long way for coach Alain Vigneault to go to figure out exactly where he fits best. On Wednesday, Shattenkirk played with emerging second-year lefty Brady Skjei, but who Shattenkirk’s partner will be once the regular season starts Oct. 5 at home against the Avalanche still is to be seen.
What is known is Vigneault is going to rely heavily on the 28-year-old, who turned down term but likely didn’t sacrifice yearly money when he inked a four-year, $26.6 million deal with an annual salary-cap hit of $6.65 million.
“Same thing we’ve been talking about since we’ve signed Kevin on the first of July,” Vigneault said when asked what he hopes to see out of Shattenkirk this preseason. “Not only that puck-moving ability, both 5-on-5 and on the power play, but he’s going to have a major role on our team.”
The Rangers did lose some big-time leaders this offseason, trading alternate captain Derek Stepan to the Coyotes and buying out the contract of another alternate captain, Dan Girardi. They both were integral parts of the leadership group, and they now leave a void both on and off the ice.
“Part of being a successful team is having players that play as well and as hard with and without the puck,” Vigneault said. “As much as we definitely brought [Shattenkirk] in for his offensive abilities, we need him to defend well, to show the right reads when he doesn’t have the puck. Because he’s going to be playing important minutes for us, and important minutes are against the best players in the league. That’s going to be a challenge for him, and I’m sure one that he wants and that he’s going to live up to.”
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The geographical transition hasn’t been difficult, as Shattenkirk mostly stayed in the area over the summer to train in Connecticut. As much as he knew the Rangers were a first-class organization in terms of how they treat their players, he said the whole situation has “been better” than he could have expected.
“The team treats us tremendously,” Shattenkirk said. “I think there’s always an anxiousness coming into a new locker room and you’re not sure how you’re going to fit in, but players here have made me feel very comfortable and I think that’s really allowed me to get comfortable playing and comfortable in the systems.”
If there is a fear, it’s that Shattenkirk can be a little too risky in trying to create offense. His game is not dissimilar to Keith Yandle, who had his moments — both good and bad — in his year and a half with the Rangers after the 2014-15 trade deadline.
But the preseason is the time for Shattenkirk to settle in and feel comfortable because that pressure is coming — and he knows it.
“I think that’s the most important thing for me, that I can get to playing my game quick enough,” Shattenkirk said. “I think everything else will kind of take care of itself.”