The Rangers gave their hockey operations department a face-lift this offseason, bringing in five new employees and rearranging a few other roles in the front office.
In addition to hiring Hockey Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero as a hockey operations adviser, which was first reported by The Post on Thursday, the Rangers also have brought in Paul Mara, a former defenseman for the team, as a player development assistant.
Mara most recently was head coach of the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation.
Since 2016, Mara also has been an assistant coach for the U.S. national women’s team, which he helped guide to an Olympic gold medal in 2018.
A Ridgewood, N.J., native, Mara played parts of three seasons with the Rangers from 2006 to 2009 before wrapping up his 12-year NHL career in 2011.
He played one more season of hockey in 2012-13, splitting 64 games between the ECHL and AHL.
After the Rangers dismissed longtime trainer Jimmy Ramsay for a non-performance-related reason, they named Andy Hosler as the new head athletic trainer.
Hosler, who most recently spent two seasons at Michigan State in the same role, will reunite with Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette.
The two worked on the Predators, with which Hosler spent 14 years.
The Rangers also promoted Kayla McAvoy, Bruins star defenseman Charlie McAvoy’s sister, to a full-time role as an assistant sports scientist. McAvoy had spent two seasons with the Rangers as a temporary associate in the strength and conditioning department.
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They also hired Brandon Rodgers as a senior sports therapist after he spent the past five seasons as a physical therapist and assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Lightning.
Kathryn Yates, who spent the past two seasons with the Flyers in the hockey analytics department, will be the manager of performance data insights for the Rangers.
She broke into the NHL after two seasons with the Massachusetts hockey team, for which she served as the director of analytics.
“Smartest person in the room,” a current UMass hockey staff member said of Yates.
One-time Ranger Ryane Clowe also has been promoted to co-senior adviser to president and general manager Chris Drury. He will serve in his new role alongside Mike Barnett, who has been with the organization since 2008.
Clowe played 12 games for the Rangers in 2012-13 and is now in his third season with the franchise after formerly serving as a hockey operations adviser.
At the conclusion of his 10-year NHL playing career, Clowe was an assistant for the Devils for two seasons before serving as head coach of the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers in 2018-19.
The Post previously reported on the addition of Christian Hmura to the Rangers’ coaching staff as a skills and performance development coach.
Hmura replaced Mark Ciaccio, who voluntarily switched to become a prospect development skills coach.
