NHL

Stepan it: Rangers must lock up young forward now

With talks that have gone nowhere all summer between the Rangers and Derek Stepan, the unsigned 24-year-old restricted free agent center will not report tomorrow for his physical on the first day of training camp.

“A deal is not imminent and obviously Derek will not report (to camp) without a contract,” his agent Matt Oates told The Post.

Thus, Stepan, who has remained at his home in Wisconsin even as the Blueshirts have been holding organized, albeit informal, workouts and scrimmages at the club’s practice rink over the last week, would become the second Ranger in the hard-cap era to miss time because of a contract dispute. Brandon Dubinsky missed eight days in 2009.

Stepan is believed seeking a five- or six-year deal in the neighborhood of $5 million per while the Rangers are believed offering a two-year contract worth between $2.75-and-$3 million a year.

Stepan’s request is not at all outlandish given his work the first three seasons of his career during which he clearly outperformed an extremely club-friendly Entry Level contract worth $875,000 per year.

The fact is Stepan, a 2008 second-round (51st overall) draft selection who emerged as the Rangers’ first-line center in 2011-12 and 2012-13, was eighth in scoring in the NHL among players 23 or younger over the last three years with 140 points (56 goals, 84 assists).

That’s more than Matt Duchene (138), Evander Kane (133), Jeff Skinner (131) and Sam Gagner (127).

But it is also a fact Stepan, who did not have arbitration rights coming out of Entry Level, has no systemic negotiating leverage in this negotiation with the Rangers beyond withholding his services — unless, that is, he is able to attract a Group II offer sheet that would prove debilitating to the cap-squeezed Blueshirts.

The Rangers have about $3 million of space with which to sign Stepan, but that would increase if Carl Hagelin ($2.25 million) and/or Ryan Callahan ($4.275 million) are placed on the Long Term Injury list that would render them ineligible for the season’s first 10 games.

Still, anything above $3.5 million per for Stepan would place a severe amount of stress on management’s ability to maneuver in case of even one injury.

An offer sheet in the $5 million per range — carrying first- and third-round draft compensation — would force the Rangers to dispose of Brian Boyle ($1.7 million) or perhaps even Derick Brassard ($3.2 million) quickly and in a buyer’s market.

The Islanders, who have both the need for Stepan and the cap-space means with which to extend the offer sheet, would be in a win-win by making such a move, guaranteed to either get the player or gut the competition’s roster and ability to make moves during the season.

There is, however, no indication an offer sheet is being pondered by the Islanders — or any other club, for that matter.

Dubinsky, Callahan, Hagelin, Dan Girardi and Michael Del Zotto all lacked arbitration rights coming out of Entry Level and all signed two-year, second contracts. Ryan McDonagh, who owned arbitration rights, signed a six-year deal worth $4.7 million per in July in surrendering two years of unrestricted free agency. Marc Staal previously signed a five-year deal for $3.975 million per coming out of Entry Level in 2010.

The lockouts have all been designed to limit players’ leverage in talks, yet owners are loathe to use the leverage they earn in each collective bargaining agreement. That’s why a player like Skinner, for instance, is on a six-year, second contract worth $5.725 million per.

Colorado did hold the line on Duchene, the third-overall selection of 2009, who signed a two-year deal worth $3.5 million per coming out of Entry Level.

That’s probably the number that would get it done for Stepan sooner rather than later; maybe $3.25 million per. It’s more than the Rangers want to pay, but doing so eliminates the possibility of an October surprise offer sheet that could have devastating consequences.