Practice had just ended, and some Rangers players were filing into the dressing room early Thursday afternoon.

Vincent Trocheck was one of the players who got to his locker stall first, and as he sat down still in full hockey gear, several reporters began to gather around him.

The Rangers center knew this was coming.

Same way Ryan Lindgren braced for his role as a central-figure storyline in the Rangers’ previous series against the Capitals, whose goaltender is Lindgren’s older brother, Charlie.

And, just as Lindgren cringed at the thought of his brotherly matchup being a center of attention to that series, Trocheck was equally as reluctant to talk about facing his former team when the Rangers play the Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs, beginning on Sunday.

Trocheck, who played with Carolina from the 2019-20 season through the 2021-22 season before signing with the Rangers in 2022, joked that there were other Rangers players available to speak to reporters.

“Laffy’s available to talk,” he joked of his teammate Alexis Lafreniere.

Once some idle joking had taken place with reporters, Trocheck went straight to his point when asked about the matchup against his former mates.

“It’s just another series,” he said.

Of course, it’s not.

But this is how Trocheck chooses to view it.

“It’s a playoff series that we need to get past to get to our goal to win the Stanley Cup,” Trocheck said.

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This much is obvious.

So, too, is the value to the Rangers of Trocheck, who does everything for them — centering one of their key lines in five-on-five, a central figure on the power play and a key player on the penalty kill.

In his two years with the Rangers, Trocheck has played in all 164 regular-season games.

Trocheck, now 30, left Carolina to sign a seven-year, $39.375 million contract with the Rangers after the 2022 season — one that was ended for the Canes by the Rangers, who defeated them in seven games in the same Eastern Conference second round as the teams are about to begin whenever the NHL sees it fit to announce the schedule.

Trocheck is coming off the finest season of his career, having scored 25 goals and dishing out a career-high 52 assists for a career-high 77 points.

He averaged a career-high 21.27 minutes of ice time per game and had a career-high 86 blocked shots.

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Trocheck has followed that with a marvelous postseason so far, with three goals and three assists in the Rangers four-game sweep of Washington.

He also won a remarkable 72 percent of his faceoffs in the Capitals series.

Trocheck would like to keep that going against his former teammates he’d rather not talk about.

“I’ve played against these guys a bunch of times already since leaving,” Trocheck said.

This is true.

Trocheck has played the Hurricanes six times since signing with the Rangers and has yet to score a goal, though he has two assists.

“Playing against former teams isn’t something that’s new to me,” he said. “I played with Carolina against Florida [for which he played his first seven seasons] a bunch of times. It just happens in this league if you move from team to team.”

Trocheck said he remains in contact with a number of his former Carolina teammates, calling some of them “very good friends, close friends.”

Asked which ones he’s closest to, Trocheck looked as uncomfortable as he did when the group of reporters first approached him.

“That’s personal,” he said. “I’m going to keep that between me and them.”

Trocheck and the Hurricanes are hardly the only personal connection to this compelling series.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette coached in Carolina for four seasons, leading the 2005-06 Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup.

The current coach of the Hurricanes is Rod Brind’Amour, who’s in his sixth season in that job and was the captain of Laviolette’s Cup-winning team.

Trocheck played all three of his seasons in Carolina for Brind’Amour and on Thursday spoke about his former coach and current coach.

“I think Rod picked up a lot of things from ‘Lavvy’ [Laviolette] back then, and they’re very similar,’’ Trocheck said. “They’re different people, but the way they approach the game is pretty similar. So is the way they are as people, the way they really care about the family aspect of the team.’’

Laviolette praised the job Brind’Amour has done as a coach, winning the Metropolitan Division two of the past three seasons.

“He’s had his team moving in the right direction year after year,’’ Laviolette said. “You can just tell his teams play the right way, they play hard and he definitely has a heavy hand on that.’’

As a player, Laviolette raved about Brind’Amour “excellent’’ leadership.

“Especially the year we won the Cup,’’ he went on. “When he spoke, he commanded the room. His work ethic as a player, I’m assuming has translated as a coach. They play well and are well-prepared and that’s a reflection on him.’’