Rangers call up a top prospect hoping to aid struggling defense

Here comes a glimpse of the early returns as the Rangers believe defenseman Ryan Lindgren is ready for his look in the NHL, so they called him up from AHL Hartford on Monday and he is expected to play in Tuesday night’s Garden match against the Hurricanes.

Lindgren, 20, was part of the deal last season that sent Rick Nash to the Bruins. He was Boston’s 2016 second-round pick (No. 49 overall) and went on to spend two years at the University of Minnesota. He joined the Wolf Pack after his sophomore season, and after being in the Rangers’ training camp this year, the lefty shot has zero goals and five assists to go along with a plus-7 rating in 35 games.

But his game has always been predicated on playing an in-your-face defensive style, and despite his 6-foot, 200-pound frame, he has seemingly proven to the organization he’s ready for his look.

“I think that I can play at the NHL level,” Lindgren told The Post in Bridgeport in December. “I just have to keep working and hopefully I get my call to play up there and show them what I got.”

The Rangers played a woeful defensive game in Columbus on Sunday night, losing to the Blue Jackets, 7-5. Head coach David Quinn ripped his team, calling the effort “a joke.” It was their sixth loss in seven games.

It also happens that second-year defenseman Neal Pionk returned from a one-game absence due to a lower-body injury he has been playing through for a while, and he struggled. It seems unlikely he will be available — or they don’t want to rush him — to play Tuesday. Fellow righty shot Adam McQuaid is also considered day-to-day after he sat Sunday, having played the past 13 games following a six-week absence due to a lower-body injury.

Also, lefty shot defenseman Fredrick Claesson went for an MRI exam on Monday for an assumed right shoulder/arm injury and isn’t expected back until at least after the bye week, which finishes on Jan. 28.

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There is certainly going to be some fallout from this…

Lindgren, a native of Burnsville, Minn., has represented the United States in two World Junior Championships, winning a gold in 2017 and a bronze in 2018. He came to the Blueshirts along with a first-round pick, Ryan Spooner (who then turned into Ryan Strome in a trade), veteran Matt Beleskey, and a seventh-round pick in 2019.

The Rangers made a minor league trade Monday, swapping forwards with the Predators by sending Cole Schneider to Nashville and getting Connor Brickley in return. Brickley, 26, has played in 39 games for Nashville’s AHL team this year, putting up seven goals and 11 points. The second-round pick (No. 50 overall) of the Panthers in 2010, Brickley played 44 games last season with Florida, and the Everett, Mass., native has played 67 career games in the NHL.