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The Rangers continue to shape their defense for the short-term future.

Most of the trades the Blueshirts have made this season surrounded their back end, beginning with former captain Jacob Trouba’s departure to Anaheim on Dec. 6 in exchange for Urho Vaakanainen.

They snagged Will Borgen from the Kraken in the deal that sent Kaapo Kakko to Seattle, and then signed Borgen to a five-year extension.

Ryan Lindgren was then shipped out to Colorado, which brought in Calvin de Haan.

And by flipping the third-rounder they acquired from Vegas in exchange for Reilly Smith, the Rangers also added Carson Soucy to what has really become a different-looking defense corps.

To cap it off ahead of Friday’s trade deadline, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury signed Vaakanainen to a two-year deal that carries an average annual value of $1.55 million.

“I think our scouts knew him really well,” Drury said of Vaakanainen. “So when we started talking about him [for a] trade, not only our western scout, but our eastern scout who knew him from Boston and Providence, and we’d done enough homework to know there was a good player there. Someone that not only did we want to acquire, but someone we wanted to work with and grow into our system.

“Let [Peter Laviolette] and Phil Housley and others get their hands on him and he’s been a good fit. Not only when he’s played with [Braden Schneider], but when he’s played with others. Excited to have him as part of the group going forward.”

Drury said they aimed to acquire the best possible players they could the last couple weeks, noting that the organization knew it wanted to make some changes as the season got underway.

Defense was quickly identified as a problem area this season, in which the team had struggled structurally almost to their detriment.

With Adam Fox on injured reserve, the only regular defensive holdovers for the Rangers who will play Saturday afternoon in Ottawa are K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider.

There is also Zac Jones, who has played in the past four games, but it is possible Soucy will slot in and make his Rangers debut.

Soucy waived his no-trade clause to come to the Rangers, per a league source.

He is signed through next season, which was clearly a selling point for Drury.

“I certainly liked his versatility,” Drury said of Soucy. “ He has played a bit on the right. He’s played in a lot of different situations in Seattle and in Vancouver. He’s played a little bit with Borgen…We think there’s a lot of possibilities with Carson, whether it’s [pairing] with Schneids or Foxy or Will [Borgen], or even having him on the right side at some point. We’ll see how it plays out. I’m glad we were able to get him. I was excited about the term, excited about the number. He’s not a rental. He’s someone we could have in for the rest of the year and next year.

“I just like the overall game — the size, the skating, the sense, how he defends. We were able to do some homework on him the last couple weeks and we’re excited to get him with a piece we got in the Reilly Smith trade.”

Matthew Robertson and Chad Ruhwedel were assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Adam Fox and his wife, Tate, welcomed their first baby, Greer, into the world on Friday.