The day after Ryan Lindgren used his head in a manner not intended, it is worth revisiting just how the Rangers acquired the worthy recipient of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award and by how much No. 55 has exceeded original expectations.

The Rangers were going into a rebuild. They would tear things down and start anew after a six-season run in which Henrik Lundqvist played the part of Sisyphus and the Cup kept rolling downhill just when he was about to reach the top. A Letter was written, foretelling trades of popular veterans who had taken the club as far as possible before the result began to break bad.

Impending free agent Rick Nash was the big fish in the 2018 rental pool. The 33-year-old winger had endured a few average, injury-impacted seasons following his bust-out, 41-goal 2014-15 in which he finished seventh in the Hart balloting, but he was positioned as a missing piece for a contender. He’d scored 18 goals in 60 games, he was conscientious defensively and he was an outstanding teammate.

The Bruins, who were battling Tampa Bay for first place in the Atlantic Division, were interested.

No. 61 would be the perfect complementary top-six piece for a deep run. Blueshirts then-general manager Jeff Gorton obtained a first-rounder, a seventh, Ryan Spooner, cap-dump Matt Beleskey and a sophomore defenseman from the University of Minnesota named Ryan Lindgren in exchange for Nash.

The first-rounder became K’Andre Miller. Spooner begat Ryan Strome. And Lindgren became, well, he became the player who stuck his face in the way of a screaming one-timer off the stick of Jeff Skinner at 2:36 of overtime, raced immediately to the room with medical trainer Jim Ramsay in pursuit, returned to the bench to watch the shootout before later saying: “In hindsight it was probably dumb, but it is what it is.”

Here’s the thing. At the time of the trade, the Rangers loved Lindgren’s leadership qualities and character, but projected him as a guy who might be a third-pair defenseman. They were not sure if he skated well enough. He surely was not placed at the top of their expanding prospect list.

“I never heard the ‘third-pair’ stuff,” Lindgren said last month in a conversation with The Post. “I don’t know if I was considered a throw-in. I know I didn’t think of myself that way, but I went through a roller coaster of emotions.

“I had no idea anything was coming. When I heard about the trade, I was maybe a little bit concerned. If Boston didn’t want me, what was I doing wrong? But then after talking with Jeff, it wasn’t that. It was that the Rangers wanted me as part of the deal.

“He had confidence in me, and I had confidence that if I worked hard, I could be an NHL player,” said the 25-year-old. “I wanted to make the most of the opportunity. It took some time, but I improved.”

It took a comparatively short amount of time. Lindgren left the Golden Gophers to play the final 10 games of the year with the AHL Wolf Pack. He then played one full season in Hartford before earning a spot on the 2019-20 opening roster. Let’s clarify: Lindgren played well enough to earn a spot but management chose to keep Libor Hajek instead.

But by the end of October, Lindgren was summoned. He hooked up with Adam Fox. He has not looked back. He is not on the third pair.

So the Rangers were right even if they were a little bit wrong. They were right about his character. They were right about his leadership. They were right about the player whom on Monday was called by Conor McDonald: “The heart and soul of this building.”

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Had I been given a vote for the Extra Effort honor, I would have chosen for Lindgren for this award, as I tweeted some time ago. Jimmy Vesey also merited consideration, as did Mika Zibanejad and Jacob Trouba. That would have been my four-player ballot.

Selected media members do get a vote for the team MVP, which will be announced before Thursday’s season finale against the Maple Leafs.

I voted for Zibanejad, with Adam Fox second and Igor Shesterkin third. Had there been a four-man ballot, Trouba would have been in that slot.

It seems almost impossible, doesn’t it, that when Artemi Panarin and Zibanejad both hit the 90-point mark on Monday, it represented only the fourth time in franchise history — and the first time in 21 years — the Rangers have had two 90-point players.

The GAG Line all went over 90 in 1971-72, Jean Ratelle with 109 points (in 63 games, thanks, Dale Rolfe), Vic Hadfield with 106 and Rod Gilbert with 97.

In 1974-75, Gilbert had 97 points and Ratelle had 91.

And in 1991-92, Mark Messier had 107 points while Brian Leetch chipped in with 102.

Perhaps even more startling is that, upon review, the 2014-15 Presidents’ Trophy-winning Blueshirts were paced by Rick Nash’s 69 points with Derick Brassard the runner-up with 60.