The most untouchable Ranger may be the one they benched

Amid the turbulent summer that lies ahead for the Rangers, there is a new group of young players who likely aren’t going anywhere, because they have shown the potential to form the franchise’s new nucleus.

That starts with the one player on the roster who is likely the most untouchable in negotiations this offseason — if such a thing exists. That would be defenseman Brady Skjei, who just turned 23 years old and who recently left to go play for Team USA in the World Championships in Paris and Cologne, Germany, for the next week or so.

“I think he had a big role on our team this year,” coach Alain Vigneault said at the team’s breakup day Thursday, the season having ended in such disappointing fashion with a loss to the Senators in Game 6 of the second round Tuesday night at the Garden.

“If you notice the games where we played and were behind or tied, [Skjei] was getting a lot of minutes,” Vigneault said. “We consider him one of our offensive defensemen. I think he’s through a real good first year of learning the game and understanding. Next year [he] should be better and more effective and ready for a bigger role and bigger minutes.”

It was technically Skjei’s rookie year, though he did come up and play seven games at the end of the previous regular season, plus all five games in the Rangers’ first-round loss to the Penguins. So the biggest positive might be that Skjei showed he can handle the workload of a full NHL season and play at the same level, even if Vigneault limited his minutes while holding slim leads late in postseason games.

Skjei’s role is only going to increase. That is even more true considering the unsure future of veterans Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, stalwarts on the Blueshirts’ backline for the last decade, but both going into the offseason as prime possibilities for buyouts, or at the very least, lessened roles next season.

When Vigneault was asked if those two players still could handle 18-20 minutes a night, he didn’t avoid what is a going to be a very difficult decision for him and for general manager Jeff Gorton.

“I think that’s a good question,” Vigneault said. “We added Brady this summer, we have [captain Ryan McDonagh] that plays over 20 minutes. We’re definitely looking at bringing in another young defenseman next year.

“I would say if you ask [Girardi and Staal if they could play those minutes], they would say yes. I would say that’s going to sort itself out next year at training camp. There are some guys right now that are taking strides and deserve more minutes and they’re probably going to get more minutes. So that means other guys are going to get less.”

Supplementing Skjei with youth up front were rookies Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich, both of whom showed sparks of talent that could mean a sustained presence with the Rangers for years to come. Vesey was the ballyhooed free-agent signee out of Harvard, and he spent the whole season showing his preternatural poise to go along with his talent. When the postseason came around, the 23-year-old Bostonian added an extra level of snarl and swagger to his game that might be the most encouraging sign of all.

As for Buchnevich, the 22-year-old Russian winger dealt with some injuries and certainly needs to get physically stronger to absorb the punishment and win the puck battles along the walls. But that is something that can be developed, and his vision and play-making ability are already at a level that is more than just promising.

The youth on the roster extends to the more experienced trio of Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller, all between the ages of 24 and 26. All three have shown terrific ability, but all three also have shown maddening inconsistency in their games. With some relatively modest contracts, they would not be out of the question as possible trade pieces.

The Rangers do have some holes to fill, and have some difficult decisions to make this offseason. It was an extremely disappointing end to their season, but with a small group of young players to build around, they continue to hold on to hope for the future.

“The evolution for me of Kreider, Hayesy, J.T. Miller — there were a lot of things that can be pointed out that we are making strides in the right direction,” Vigneault said. “It does not at all eliminate the fact of the disappointment of this loss. But we’re going to sit down in about 10 days and evaluate our season and moving forward, there are some positives to take out of this year.”