Richards is a far more expansive talker than the taciturn St. Louis, but they are close. In 2004 they won the Stanley Cup together with Tampa Bay; last summer, when Richards wanted to get his own slumping game back on track, he trained with St. Louis; and lately, Richards has been letting St. Louis crash at his downtown apartment on game days.

“It was very difficult for him,” Richards said of St. Louis’s transition to the Rangers. “He left a place he’d been for 13 years, and everything was new. You get traded for a captain, and you know it’s an Original Six market, and there’s nothing more you want to do but be a Ranger. He probably just tried a little too hard, and it got to him.”

In those first few weeks, St. Louis “just wasn’t as fluent — he was out of sorts,” Richards said.

“When your head is full of junk in any sport, you can’t get out of your own way, and you do things that aren’t natural and free flowing,” he added. “It feels like he’s part of it now.

“He’s talking more; he’s getting to get to know the guys more, and he’s being himself off of the ice. He’s getting more comfortable, and he’s back to being Marty.”

Richards has seen St. Louis lightening up from an unusual vantage point.

“He’s at my house every game day, eating my food, using my spare bedroom — I can’t do much else,” Richards said, laughing. “He doesn’t like the commute some nights, but he’s more than welcome; we’d do the same for each other. I’m trying to get him to know the guys and the coaches. If he’s asking questions — ‘What’s this guy like?’ — you’re trying to get him to know how everything works. That’s the best way to do it. I can’t help him on the ice as much as I can help him get comfortable on the ice.”

This lifting of St. Louis’s spirits is noticeable in his comments after games and practice. He seems to speak more easily.

“Anything you can do to help your team win, whether it’s making things happen with the puck or playing well away from it, you’re just trying to play your total game this time of year,” he said Tuesday. “I’m glad to be helping.”