Jimmy Vesey has spent the last two months or so visiting with the Rangers’ strength and conditioning coach, Reg Grant, before and after games and practices. The rookie winger out of Harvard is grinding though this season, playing more games than he ever has, and is trying to find a way to pick his play back up to the level it was when he started the year.
“It’s just that this is different than playing 30 games,” Vesey told The Post after Sunday’s practice, before his team flew to Columbus for a game against the Blue Jackets on Monday night. “Here we work out after games. In college, it was like, go do schoolwork, or my family or everyone’s family was at games. And we only played twice a week. So I’m still in the process of becoming a pro.”
Part of that is seeing his game go through ups and downs, and that comes in lockstep with coach Alain Vigneault moving him up and down the lineup. Vesey had spent a good portion of the last month on some incarnation of the fourth line, but was moved back up into the top six at the end of January.
He played with Derek Stepan and Rick Nash during Saturday night’s 4-2 win over the Avalanche, which completed a sweep of the team’s four-game homestand and was the fifth consecutive victory in what is turning out to be a nice little midseason run.
But Vigneault moved Vesey back down to a line with Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fast for Sunday’s practice, putting Pavel Buchnevich next to Nash and center Mika Zibanejad, while reuniting the Chris Kreider-Stepan-Mats Zuccarello combination.
“I think when I was with Step and Nasher, we were just about to break through,” Vesey said. “We had our chances. I think I’m comfortable with how I’ve played. But as a rookie, I’m still learning. The goalies — everything — is a step up. You really have to bear down on your chances and make sure they go in the net.”
It seemed so easy for a while there, as the 23-year-old Bostonian had six goals in his first 10 games after choosing the Rangers in a much-ballyhooed free agency following a senior season at Harvard when he won the Hobey Baker Award for the best player in college. But he’s had just six goals in the 44 games since, with only one in the past 16 games.
“I think I’ve played some good games over the last couple weeks, and I’ve had the chances, it’s just a matter of bearing down and making sure they go in,” Vesey said. “I’ve had the looks, they just haven’t fallen for me.”
There was that great chance against the Ducks when he was robbed on a backdoor one-timer by goalie John Gibson.
“That one haunted me for a little while,” he said.
Then on Saturday, he had another great look from in close, but hit Colorado netminder Calvin Pickard in the mask.
It’s all a learning process for Vesey, and he’s trying not to harp on who he is playing with, but rather how he is playing.
“I think regardless of the line I’m on, just making sure I’m skating and being confident with the puck, holding on to it in the offensive zone,” he said. “I think when I feel confident, that’s when I have the puck on my stick. That’s when I’m at my best.”
What Vesey has learned in his time with Grant and the conditioning staff is there are guys right in front of him who are sterling examples of how to take care of your body in the long haul of an 82-game season. One of them is Nash, whose 13-year career would be a great one to emulate.
“I think when you look at guys like Nash, he’s so — everything he does, every time he comes to the rink, it’s the same,” Vesey said. “So he doesn’t have to worry about it. He knows exactly what he has to do when he comes to the rink, and then he just goes out and plays.”
And now Vesey is working to do the same.
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