The approach to the March 3 trade deadline that will arrive 13 games, three weeks and four days after the Rangers resume the schedule on Monday must address deficiencies exposed and lessons learned in last year’s defeat by Tampa Bay in the conference finals.

When general manager Chris Drury reviews those final four games in which the Blueshirts recorded a total of one goal at five-on-five, he will be reminded that his team could neither get to the net nor win its fair share of the 50-50 battles that are almost always determinative when push comes to shove, as it inevitably does in the tournament.

Does Patrick Kane sound like the individual who would solve that issue that represents two sides of the same coin?

I first brought up the possibility of dealing for the Chicago winger in December of 2021. Given Kane’s history with Artemi Panarin for No. 10’s first two seasons in the league in Chicago, it seemed natural. But that was when Kane would have been available for two playoff runs and one full season. That was also when Panarin and sympatico center Ryan Strome were humming and Kane’s addition would have been as seamless as possible.

A year later, however, Kane is a one-and-done as a pending unrestricted free agent. A year later, Kane at age 34 is having a bad year in a depressing situation, though there has been an uptick in production the last dozen games. A year later, Panarin is trying to fit in on the left with Mika Zibanejad after having all sorts of problems jelling with Vincent Trocheck.