from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The Rangers sure did sharpen their edges when it comes to the bottom six in importing players such as Ryan Reaves, Barclay Goodrow and Sammy Blais, but the outstanding question is whether these moves can create a team-wide identity that benefits the more skill-oriented athletes who were too easily suppressed last season by more physically inclined opponents?

The answer, provided by none other than Gerard Gallant in a wide-ranging one-on-one telephone conversation with The Post on Friday, is one gleaned from personal experience. And the answer is … well, let’s hear from the incoming 36th head coach in franchise history.

“One hundred percent. There’s no doubt,” said Gallant, who started his NHL career in Detroit in the mid-1980s as a teammate of Bob Probert and Joey Kocur. “It’s not about changing your style of play, it’s about giving a little comfort for those guys.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Goodrow’s competitive spirit, a Ryan Reaves’ type of player, Jarred Tinordi, that type of player plus the guys who were already here will make this team a lot better.

“Those guys are important players. I love hard-working competitive teams, and with Reaves and whoever else is on your team, we upgraded a part that we thought was a little bit weaker last year,” the coach said. “It was a complete different era, but when I played with Kocur and Probert, I know I felt a lot better playing my game with those guys on my bench.

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