Marc Staal is the veteran presence Rangers will need

Yes, the Rangers are a lot younger than they have been in years past. But one thing that remains the same is Marc Staal is set to be a staple on the back end as the 31-year-old enters his 13th season on Broadway.

If it seems like it was a long time ago when the Blueshirts took Staal with the 12th-overall pick in the 2005 draft, that’s because it was. But after a couple of tumultuous years defined by serious injuries, Staal is hoping again to be the reliable force on a team that is going into the season-opener Oct. 4 with a ton of uncertainty.

“I’ve obviously been here a long time, played some years,” Staal told The Post after a hard day of training camp in Westchester on Sunday, with the preseason schedule opening Monday night against the Devils in Newark. “I’ve always been a voice in the room, so I want to continue to do that and set a good example for guys coming in as we start up here. I feel like that doesn’t change.”

One major thing that has changed is David Quinn is now the coach. The former headman at Boston University has run a difficult first couple of days of practice, but he has been impressed with the way Staal has come in.

“He’s had a great start to camp,” Quinn said. “He came in in great shape, and he’s a big piece of what we’ve got going on right now.”

That might be a bit of a shock, considering that in summer 2017, Staal was a prime candidate to have his contract bought out. But general manager Jeff Gorton thought it was more beneficial to buy out Staal’s former partner, Dan Girardi, and it lit a fire under the ultra-competitive Staal.

Now with three years still left on his deal with an annual salary-cap hit of $5.7 million, Staal is trying to maintain his level of play coming off a relatively resurgent year. Despite the Rangers flailing around amid their rebuild, which eventually led to the firing of coach Alain Vigneault, Staal played some of his most stout hockey of the past few seasons.

“I’m hoping to build on what he did last year,” Quinn said. “Thought he had a good year last year. He’s a guy that we’re going to rely on in a lot of situations, on and off the ice.”

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Staal figures to be part of a left side that is a pretty open competition for ice time. Besides 24-year-old Brady Skjei, who just signed a six-year, $31.5 million deal ($5.25 million per), Staal will be competing with new addition Frederik Claesson, possibly Brendan Smith or Rob O’Gara, and possibly young players Libor Hajek, John Gilmour and Ryan Lindgren.

“You have to play at a high level to play a lot of minutes, and you have to earn that,” Staal said. “So obviously the last few years, a lot of D-zone starts, a lot of penalty kill. Assuming that probably won’t change much, as far as those types of minutes. Just do that at a really high level and see what comes off of that.”

When Staal has been at his best in the past, he uses his 6-foot-4, 210-pound frame to defend with aggression. Quinn has made it clear he wants to play a physical brand of hockey, and Staal can certainly be a big part of that.

But he isn’t trying to get too far ahead of himself just yet with projecting what kind of role he is going to have — even though it’s clearly shaping up to be a big one.

“We have a new coaching staff and some new guys, try not to think too much about that, or tell myself I want to be here or there,” Staal said. “Approach camp the same way — work hard, play as well as I can, and when we get in game situations, if I’m playing at my best, I’ll be put into positions I’m used to and I can help the team win.”