When Henrik Lundqvist was preparing to join the Capitals following his buyout from the Rangers, the goaltender — who undoubtedly will get the call from the Hockey Hall of Fame on Wednesday — had a chat by phone with the Washington head coach.

“One phone call,” The King told me last week,” and I was ready to run through a wall for him.”

That coach was Peter Laviolette.

The Rangers are going to experience culture shock with Laviolette, who was officially introduced Tuesday as the club’s head coach, replacing Gerard Gallant behind the bench. They are going to be challenged mentally and physically. That will start in training camp, maybe even in summer introductory phone calls. They are going to be in for some motivational talks and some that might tear the paint off the locker room wall. The Blueshirts are going to be coached up.

This is what the leadership core asked for in exit meetings with general manager Chris Drury, and this is what the Rangers will get. Laissez-faire is out the window. This transition might not be quite as stark as the one from Tom Renney to John Tortorella three-quarters of the way through the 2008-09 season, but it might be close. That should serve as a pretty good reference point.

One difference is that players might be willing to run through a wall for Laviolette, but they won’t have to run three miles on Day 1 of camp.

Laviolette may fit into a recyclable container, but he’s a coach who fits what the Rangers need at this point in their evolution. And that’s what this is about. All coaches are not for all teams, and all coaches might not be for all seasons. The Rangers responded to Gallant as a breath of fresh air following David Quinn, until they didn’t respond at all against the Devils.

Do you remember what Gallant said in the immediate aftermath of the Game 7 debacle in New Jersey? Of course you do. Drury surely does. He made it a point to say “talent doesn’t mean a thing” if not accompanied by work ethic and — paraphrasing here — the ability to adapt to the demands of playoff hockey.

This time around, the A-Listers were unable to make the transition from regular-season hockey, under which they thrived, to the more demanding requirements of the postseason. Under Laviolette, the Rangers will adopt more of a playoff-style approach right from the get-go.

“I think there’s a lot of skill and a lot of talent on this team, from the goaltender to the back end to the forwards, and we definitely need to embrace that, because you find that the teams that go deep into the playoffs and win championships, they’re loaded with skill. That has to be a part of it,” said Laviolette, whose 752 career victories rank eighth in NHL history. “What I am about to say is not trying to take away from that in any manner.

“But when you watch the final four and the final two [of the playoffs], it’s just a reminder that the compete inside the game is what makes teams great. It drives them to success. I don’t think that’s something you can just ask for. I think you have to practice that on a daily basis. It has to become habit. It has to become your identity and part of the DNA of who you are — and it has to start in training camp.

“It has to be held to a level of accountability,” said the 58-year-old who led Carolina to the 2006 Cup. “When you have that and you have the skill, that’s how teams push on and they compete for Stanley Cups, win Stanley Cups and become really good hockey teams.”

So yes, there will be demands made of Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Adam Fox, Filip Chytil, K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere. There will be demands made of the roster. The Blueshirts should not only welcome it, but embrace the challenge.

There may not be as much sizzle to the Rangers, not quite as much glitter. Black-and-Blueshirt hockey is set for a Broadway revival.

Whether the Rangers have enough intrinsic grind in them remains to be seen. I am skeptical. If not, it is Drury’s responsibility to provide Laviolette with the ingredients necessary for success, even if the GM is working with a limited salary-cap budget. By the way, there is a need for another Barclay Goodrow or two, not one fewer.

Here’s another one that to me is no small matter: Though Michael Peca’s hiring as an assistant has not been officially announced, his anticipated addition to the staff speaks as loud as any words Laviolette delivered at his press briefing.

No one played the game with more of an edge than Peca, who was the coach’s captain in Laviolette’s two seasons on the Island. No one brought more of a playoff mentality to the regular season than Peca. He will lead by the example he set through a 14-year NHL career. The Rangers would be wise to follow.

The destination is the Canyon of Heroes. The journey of a million miles has just begun. In blue collars and work boots.