Marc Staal is in control of his uncertain Rangers fate

Marc Staal is one of the two current Rangers to have played for all four of the club’s coaches in the hard-cap era that commenced in 2005-06. Henrik Lundqvist was on Broadway first, of course, a rookie that season. Staal arrived two years later and has joined forces with the King playing for Tom Renney, John Tortorella, Alain Vigneault and David Quinn, a designer mixed bag of personalities and coaching philosophies if ever there was one.

Staal actually was supposed to make his debut in 2005-06. The 12th-overall selection of the 2005 entry draft had completed his OHL season with Sudbury and was on his way to Hartford to get a taste of pro life in the AHL playoffs. Two weeks remained in the year, the Rangers were on their way to a shocking first-place finish after seven straight seasons out of the playoffs, and Renney was going to get Staal into an NHL contest while resting a veteran.

“Except they lost five straight and I never got in,” said Staal, scratched from each one as the Blueshirts surrendered their division lead on the final day of the season. “I had to wait for a couple of years.”

The Rangers lost the division lead that final day of 2005-06 to the Devils, by whom they were then swept in the first round of the playoffs in which Jaromir Jagr suffered a separated shoulder late in Game 1 while taking a wild swing at Scott Gomez, who still played for New Jersey at the time, by the way.

And it was the Rangers and Devils on Thursday in Newark while Staal played the 811th game of his NHL career, though this one was staged under unprecedented circumstances. For with the Blueshirts in 11th place in the East, 10 points out of the second wild-card berth, and the Devils in 14th place, 14 points out, this will all but certainly become the first time in the 36 seasons of the Battle of the Hudson that both teams will miss the playoffs.

It would mark the sixth miss over the last seven years for the Devils, an organization not so long ago steeped in excellence. It would mark the second straight miss for the Blueshirts and for Staal, who’d made the playoffs in all but one of the defenseman’s first 10 NHL seasons. If that is, Staal is still a member of the organization at 3 p.m. on Feb. 25.

Mats Zuccarello is almost certain to be gone by the deadline. He might have something to say about that, but there is nothing he can do to prevent it, rather amazingly absent any trade protection in his fifth contract that expires at the end of the year. Kevin Hayes will probably be traded, even as the pending free agent continues to say that he wants nothing more than to remain a Ranger. Others without leverage are certain to go as the rebuild continues.

Staal, though, has control over his fate, owning a full no-move clause for the life of his contract that runs through 2020-21. Teams are not believed to be beating down the door to acquire a rather immobile 32-year-old defenseman with two full seasons at a $5.7 million cap hit per, but serious contenders are always pursuing blue-line depth. That is what Staal, who is having a commendable season playing up on the first pair against the opposition’s top guns just about every single night, would provide.

If, that is, he were to waive his no-trade.

“I don’t know what I would do if I were asked,” Staal told The Post this week. “It really hasn’t crossed my mind at this point. No one’s talked to me about it.

“As [the deadline] gets closer, if there’s anything that comes up, I guess it would depend on the situation. I can’t say. I’m not great on hypotheticals. They’re tough.”

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Chances are the combination of Staal’s age, style and contract would mitigate against a trade, though, who knows, maybe the Lightning are up for sending third-line winger JT Miller to Broadway in order to reunite Staal and Dan Girardi for the Cup drive.

Seriously though, Staal’s unappetizing peripherals aside, he is the type of old-school defender who can become more important when the game turns into a playoff grind and taffy pull. So maybe there will be an inquiry. Maybe the second senior Ranger will be on the move. Again, if so, it will be on Staal’s say-so.

“We’ve been competitive and have a good group here that works hard at improving,” said the only Ranger to wear No. 18 since Adam Hall. “That’s made it fun to come to the rink. That’s so important.

“As for what might happen, maybe check back in a few weeks.”