(David Hahn/Icon Sportswire)

Coyotes at Rangers

When: Thursday, 4 p.m.

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York

TV: FOX Sports Arizona, MSG

NEW YORK — Keith Yandle’s dry sense of humor bubbled to the surface when asked if facing his former team for the first time on Thursday at Madison Square Garden would dredge up emotions.

“They’ve got different jerseys now,” Yandle said of the Arizona Coyotes. “I might not even recognize them.”

Don’t be fooled. Yandle spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Coyotes before Arizona shipped him to the New York Rangers at last year’s trade deadline. He has volumes of enduring memories, including the final one, which he spent with captain Shane Doan on the day Yandle left town.

“It was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done,” Yandle said after practice on Wednesday at the Rangers’ training facility in Tarrytown, New York. “He came over to my house and we went for a little drive to pick up my equipment at the Ice Den. We had a really good talk that day and a really good cry.

“I had been with him for nine or more years and from the day I got there he was like a big brother or a father figure. He was amazing to me the whole time. It’s one of those friendships you never lose and it goes a lot further than just the hockey aspect.”

Yandle is still a work in progress with the New York Rangers, but the optics on that growth process have changed. Assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson said Yandle’s 5-on-5 play has been excellent this season, adding that he was one of the team’s best players in last season’s run to the Eastern Conference Final.

Yandle was brought to New York to spark the power play from the blue line, however. Entering Thursday’s game, New York ranked 24th in the NHL with the man advantage at 11.8 percent — just ahead of the Coyotes’ struggling power play.

“I believe there’s more to give than what he’s shown us and he’d say the same thing,” New York coach Alain Vigneault said. “He’s got all the attributes. He’s just got to learn to relax and execute a little better.

“Sometimes it takes a little time for people to get used to a new environment and I would put him in that category, but I do think he’s going to come into his own and he’s going to give us the type of hockey that we expect from him at both ends of the rink.”

Yandle, 29, admitted to being nervous when he arrived in New York after his first NHL trade, but joining a team with depth, talent and high expectations also diffused the spotlight that always seemed to cast the harshest and most unforgiving light on him or goalie Mike Smith in Arizona.

“Coming to a team that knows how to win, and wants to win every year, and is right around it every year was definitely a good thing,” he said. “When you have a group of players in here that are willing to win and the management and coaches are willing and able, it’s a nice thing to be a part of.”

Samuelsson acknowledged that Yandle has joined a more talented team, but he dismissed the idea that Yandle faces less pressure in New York’s Cup-capable lineup.

“We still have high expectations for him,” said Samuelsson, who was a Coyotes assistant coach from 2006-11 and has sons (Henrik and Philip) in the Arizona system. “He is one of six very good defenders we have here so if he has a great night he’ll play a little more. If he has an average night he’ll play his normal and if he’s below average we’ll probably take some time away from him.

“On a club where you’re less deep on the blue line, you may get your minutes no matter how you play.”

Yandle is in the final year of a contract that will pay him $5.75 million (the Coyotes retained half) per generalfanager.com, after which he will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career. If New York wins a Stanley Cup this season, the trade that sent Yandle, defenseman Chris Summers and a 2016 fourth-round pick to New York for rookie Anthony Duclair, a 2016 first-round pick, a 2015 second-round pick and defenseman John Moore will have been worth it. If not, Yandle may face more scrutiny.

He insists he isn’t thinking that far ahead or feeling any more pressure than he normally inflicts upon himself. He’s choosing to focus on more immediate goals like impacting his team and impacting his hometown by slowly transforming one of the most unlikely neighborhoods, South Boston, into a Ranger haven.

“There’s a lot of people in my area who have Rangers hats on and T-shirts,” Yandle said. “You see a lot of Ranger gear now, especially with (teammate) Kevin Hayes, because he lives in the town (Dorchester) next to me.

“There’s a lot of Rangers fans in Boston now. Who would have thought that?”

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