Jimmy Vesey getting long-awaited playoff return with Rangers

Before the Rangers started practice Wednesday, ahead of their regular-season finale Thursday, Jimmy Vesey scanned the locker room and took a tally.

He thought he has played the fewest postseason games among his Rangers teammates, but he wasn’t sure.

Vesey knew his number (12) and also the number of seasons since his last appearance (five).

He knew everyone who played during the Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference finals last season had logged 20, already more than him.

Maybe there was a chance he has played more than defenseman Niko Mikkola, Vesey thought.

But when he checked, Mikkola reminded him about his 16 with the Blues the past two seasons, and reality started to settle in.

Vesey, who will turn 30 in May, has the least postseason experience on the Rangers’ roster.

Their 21 skaters and goalies have appeared in 866 combined playoff games, but Vesey accounts for just 1.4 percent of that.

The last time he made the postseason, he was a Rangers rookie in 2016-17.

Everything was easier back then, when playoff berths seemed destined to happen regularly for the Hobey Baker Award winner fresh out of Harvard.

But then the Rangers started to rebuild at the next trade deadline, Vesey was traded to the Sabres, his career spiraled and he began thinking about if — not when — he would make the playoffs again.

That will give the first-round series that will begin next week against either the Devils or Hurricanes extra meaning.

“You certainly don’t envision yourself missing the playoffs five straight years,” Vesey told The Post. “I think everyone envisions themselves every year in the playoffs, and then when it doesn’t happen five years in a row, it’s a little depressing.

“For me, especially, the last couple of years, not knowing if I’d get a chance at it again, it’s exciting for me.”

The entire 2022-23 season, really, has generated similar emotions from Vesey. It started with a professional tryout contract — the second consecutive season he needed one to latch on with an NHL organization — before he made the Rangers and earned a contract extension in January, which provided relief because he “always wanted to be here.”

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Vesey spent time on the first line until Vladimir Taranseko and Patrick Kane arrived at the trade deadline.

He then seamlessly slid down to the fourth unit while also becoming a key presence on the penalty kill.

When Kane missed time last week, Vesey skated with the top line again.

He has 11 goals and 14 assists entering the Rangers’ finale against the Maple Leafs on Thursday.

“I think he’s brought everything,” defenseman Ryan Lindgren told The Post. “He’s played kind of all over the lineup. He’s provided offense. He’s been incredible on the penalty kill.”

But Vesey was still missing another postseason on his résumé.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying, he said.

It wasn’t for a lack of NHL experience, either.

He logged 12 playoff games with the Rangers in 2017, when they beat the Canadiens in the first round before the Senators eliminated them the next round.

The following season, at the trade deadline, the Blueshirts dealt away Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh and changed the direction of their franchise.

There was the infamous letter to the fans from president Glen Sather and general manager Jeff Gorton.

There was the promise, in that letter, to build “our next Stanley Cup contender,” but no time frame for how long that might take.

Vesey still thought the Rangers had a good team.

But the final two years of his first stint with the Rangers didn’t lead to winning records or the postseason.

The Rangers’ second consecutive appearance in the playoffs means something to everyone, head coach Gerard Gallant said, because it’s “not easy to make the playoffs anymore” — not even with 100 points.

Lindgren added that some Rangers didn’t get their first true taste until last season, during their run to the conference finals.

But Vesey wasn’t present for that.

He also understands how difficult it can be to reach the 16-team quest toward the pinnacle of the NHL. Last year at this time, Vesey had missed the playoffs with the Devils, and again he didn’t know what the next season would bring.

That’s why the postseason was on his mind again Wednesday morning as it crept closer to a start date.

“My rookie year, looking back, I was really just a kid,” Vesey said, “so if I could get through it then, I’m sure I’ll be fine now.”