New Ranger Brendan Lemieux has his dad’s agitator DNA

The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

“Rotten,” of course, used here as a term of endearment.

“The closest player to the way I play would probably be my dad,” Brendan Lemieux, acquired by the Rangers from Winnipeg on Monday as part of the return for Kevin Hayes, said following Tuesday’s practice. “That’s the way I grew up, always trying to imitate him.”

Brendan Lemieux’s dad is named Claude. He won two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe Trophy with the Devils, one Cup with the Canadiens and another Cup with the Avalanche in establishing himself as one of the league’s all-time greatest big-game players and one of its most detested agitators over a 1,215-game, 19-year NHL career.

“[Playing with an edge] is part of my DNA and is a big part of who I am as a player and why I was probably sought after,” Brendan Lemieux said. “But that’s the part that comes natural, I don’t really have to think about that, it’s just instinctual. I don’t have to think about trying to play gritty or have to think about getting under someone’s skin, it just happens naturally.

“I’ve said it before, but I think I have a better tendency of making people upset than I do having them smile. I try and get a good laugh in the room from the guys and then piss off the other team as much as possible, and luckily it just comes natural.”

It remains to be seen whether the 22-year-old winger can emerge as a top-six NHL player, but there is no harm in improving the third and fourth lines when presented with the opportunity. If Lemieux, who will open on the third line with Lias Andersson and Pavel Buchnevich in Wednesday night’s match at the Garden against the Lightning, brings his trademark sandpaper to the rink, he can become the team’s most effective agitator since Sean Avery left.

David Quinn covets straight-line abrasive players, though not exclusively and at the expense of talent. Just Sunday, following a nasty game with the Capitals in which the Rangers gave about as good as they got, the coach talked proudly of how his team played with an edge and how playing that way can “piss people off.”

“I think he’s going to fit in fine with that aspect of the game,” Quinn said, laughing. “Again, it’s not about doing it irresponsibly. It’s about playing the right way and if you do that, you’re going to piss people off. And I think that comes naturally to him.”

Lemieux, born in Denver, was selected 31st overall by Buffalo in 2014 before going to the Jets as part of the blockbuster exchange in February 2015 that featured, among others, Evander Kane, Tyler Myers and Zach Bogosian. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound lefty shooter has recorded 33 goals (and 32 assists) in 117 AHL games and 10 goals (with two assists) in 53 NHL games, including his nine goals and two assists in 44 games this year with a .243 shooting percentage in 7:25 ice time.

“Obviously he’s a guy who plays a fast, physical game with an upside to his offensive game that I’m hoping we can bring out of him with more of an opportunity,” said Quinn, who had Lemieux practicing as the net-front guy on the second power-play unit. “He hasn’t played a lot of minutes throughout the season, he’s a young kid and he’s been on a really good team, so we’ll have to monitor the minutes to see how he responds.

“I plan on playing him more than he’s been playing.”

With the trade deadline finally behind them after weeks of intense speculation and some close friends no longer part of the operation, the Rangers’ focus can return unimpeded to the ice. Last year’s purge hollowed out the team’s soul. This, though the exits of Hayes and particularly Mats Zuccarello were painful, is not that.

“I think it’s important that we take [the remaining 20 games] as an important stretch to try to work on everything,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who will back up Alexandar Georgiev on Wednesday. “A lot that we do now will help us also for next season, but we’ve got to do what we can here to see if we can get in. Obviously, it’s tough, but there are teams that have gone on crazy runs.

“Management has their plan, they’re sticking to it, and hopefully we’re on the right track. It sounds like they made some decisions they think is really good for the future here, but for us players, we can’t think about the future too much. We have to be focused on the here and now.”

That includes a Lemieux on their side.