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This wasn’t about the state of the rebuild. This was about the state of the Rangers union. And Jim Dolan, the Rangers CEO, was not comfortable with it. So he acted. Decisively.

“I saw a weakness in the team that was not being addressed and I knew it needed to be,” Dolan told The Post during a telephone interview on Thursday in explaining why he dismissed president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton. “I knew that we were missing a key component to us being a Stanley Cup contender.

“And that is the overall spirit and culture that goes with being a team. I believe that as good of a job as JD and Jeff have done, in speaking with them, it is clear to me that Chris Drury was going to be the right guy to lead the team forward.”

Drury, of course, has been elevated into the twin roles of president and GM after having served as Gorton’s lead aide for the past five years. Dolan preferred not to discuss the substance of his conversations with Davidson and Gorton regarding those missing elements.

The CEO did not want to engage in hypotheticals about what the ousted regime might have done this upcoming offseason with a heap of available salary-cap space. Instead, this was his take:

“What I’m talking about is not just something that happens in the locker room,” Dolan said. “It’s an entire organization that has to be together as a team. It’s everybody from the president, the general manager, the coach, the players, the assistant coaches, the trainers. … Everybody has to be together as a team, because everyone makes a contribution.

“Our organization doesn’t have that.”

What it does have, in Dolan’s opinion, is talent. Enough talent to … well, let him tell it.

“Honestly, we have enough talent now to compete for a Stanley Cup,” he said. “I’m sure we can always do better and add more, and I will tell you that both JD and Jeff did a good job of putting talent into this organization, and we also got lucky along the way too [with lottery victories the last two years].

“But other owners, other general managers have been telling me for a year that they can’t believe how stocked we are with talent, but talent alone doesn’t do it. We’re missing this piece and we need it. And when I looked at our organization, I felt that we need to change the whole organization and change the culture.

“And then it was a question of who was going to be the best person to lead that change, and I would argue that Chris Drury has the best résumé for that, period. He is a consummate team player, a winner, a man of high character.

“He reminds me somewhat of [Yankees GM] Brian Cashman.”

As if the twin dismissals of popular figures didn’t ignite enough of a firestorm, the timing of the announcement may have seemed odd, coming as it did with just three games remaining in the season that ends Saturday. Why not wait?

Conspiracy theorists concluded that Davidson and Gorton had been fired Wednesday because of their opposition to the statement issued Tuesday night by Dolan under the team’s banner that decried the NHL’s failure to suspend Tom Wilson and called for George Parros’ dismissal as head of the department of player safety.

Why not wait? It turns out there was a pretty good reason for Dolan acting when he did.

“Exit meetings [with the players] are the cornerstone of the entire summer, and it was critical to have Chris in place for those,” said Dolan of the meetings that probably would be scheduled for Sunday or Monday. “The Wilson thing, it is an unfortunate coincidence and it actually gave me a moment of pause, but I had to give this the best chance of being successful.

“I had to get it done so Chris was in place and this was the last opportunity to do this before they went on the road and I wasn’t going to do it on the road. So that’s why.”

The statement made its mark on Tuesday. On Thursday, the NHL made Dolan its mark, fining the Rangers a cool $250,000 for their trouble. Is it necessary to note that was 50 times more than Wilson was fined for Monday’s hysteria? Probably not.

“I feel a little poorer today,” Dolan said lightheartedly “But no, we said what we felt we needed to say and the league did what they felt they needed to do, so it’s fine. Hopefully, we’ll both move on. I don’t think it’s worth enflaming anymore.”

This was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. This was not an emotional reaction to the late slide out of playoff contention. This was months in the making.

“I started thinking about it 20 or 25 games ago at a time when the team really needed to show heart and we had key games — I won’t be specific — where we had to show up and had to come out strong, and even if we lost, it had to be our best effort,” Dolan said. “And we clearly had nowhere close to our best effort.”

There was a stretch through the middle of February through the middle of March when the performance was uneven, inconsistent and wanting. Then there was the April 20, 6-1 humbling at the Coliseum that proved the first of three mismatches against the Islanders.

“That was big,” Dolan said.

Glen Sather, who has been acting as adviser since stepping down from the presidency two years ago, will help guide Drury. Dolan called Sather, “The Godfather of the Rangers.”

“Glen is one of the best hockey minds out there,” Dolan said. “To have his counsel for me and for Chris is invaluable.”

There will be a decision concerning the fate of head coach David Quinn, who has two years remaining on his contract. Drury, remember, was instrumental in the search and hiring process of the former BU coach.

“It’s totally Chris’ call,” Dolan said. “I think Chris has some pretty unique insight into it.”

So the Rangers forge ahead. Unspoken or not, Drury has the mandate to bring the Rangers to the next level, sooner than later. Following Wednesday, there is unease in Rangerstown that Dolan will assume a greater presence in the operation and turn it into someplace like Knicksland.

“No, no, no,” Dolan said. “I don’t delude myself with basketball or hockey to say that I know what to do. But I do have a job and I do have a responsibility, and with the Knicks, I chose Leon Rose.

“Yes, I chose the other guys too, and by the way, every time I did I was hopeful I was getting the right guy. But sports doesn’t always work out that way. But when it comes to the Rangers, I’m turning the reins over to Chris.

“I have complete faith in him. I hope he’s here for 20 years.”

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