NHL

Rangers exploring swap for talented Lightning malcontent

The Rangers are among a group of teams that have inquired about Tampa Bay’s disgruntled 20-year-old left wing Jonathan Drouin, multiple sources have told The Post, with one informant reporting the Blueshirts “are in big-time on this.”

It remains to be seen whether Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman will feel compelled to move Drouin, the third-overall selection of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft who was assigned to AHL Syracuse over the weekend, in the aftermath of the second-year pro’s public request to be traded via a statement released by agent provocateur Allan Walsh.

The Post has learned Blueshirts GM Jeff Gorton and Yzerman first talked about Drouin when the Rangers were in Tampa for last Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over the Lightning. That conversation preceded the public demand from the Drouin camp.

Drouin, an extremely skilled and dynamic player, would address what has become an obvious talent drain up front for the Blueshirts, who meet the Stars at the Garden on Tuesday having won five of their past 18 (5-11-2) games coming off a 1-2 trip, even if his acquisition would not address the team’s chronic issues with and without the puck in the defensive zone.

Bothered by lower-body issues throughout the past two months, Drouin had only played in 19 games this year, and just five since mid-November. The sophomore recorded two goals and six assists after playing in 70 games in his 2014-15 rookie season, during which he posted four goals and 28 assists.

It is not known whether names from the Rangers side have been exchanged between the clubs, which previously hooked up for the 2014 deadline deal in which captains Ryan Callahan and Marty St. Louis (and a fistful of draft choices) changed places.

The Blueshirts could have a match for the Lightning in rental property Keith Yandle, the offense-inclined defenseman whose presumed availability is not based on his performance or value to this year’s team, but on the likelihood that he will hit the unrestricted free agent market on July 1.

Keith YandleGetty Images

There would seem virtually no scenario under which the Rangers will be able to sign Yandle — who should be able to command at least six years for between $5.5 million and $6 million per season — prior to this year’s Feb. 29 deadline.

Regardless of Yandle’s value to the Rangers as a puck-mover, it would be a surprise if Gorton were to allow Yandle to play out the season and then escape for free, especially with the relative dearth of prime, ready-for-Broadway prospects in the Blueshirts’ pipeline.

Indeed, one would expect the 29-year-old defenseman — who is carrying a modest $2.625 million cap hit into the deadline — to be the Rangers’ most sought-after commodity as trade talks intensify around the league.

The defending conference champion Lightning, currently out of a playoff spot while walking a cap tightrope as perilous as the one on which the Rangers are tiptoeing, could use help both on their second and third pair and on their power-play point, where former Blueshirt Anton Stralman leads Tampa Bay in ice time (3:02 per game) and production (one goal, seven assists, eight points).

A return of Drouin — selected behind Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov at the ’13 draft off an explosive stay at QMJHL Halifax, where he rang up 105 and 108 points, respectively, in his final two seasons of junior hockey — in exchange for Yandle would seem equitable within the context of previous rental deals across the league.

The Rangers have already dealt their 2016 first-round draft pick to the Coyotes in last year’s deadline-proximate trade that brought Yandle to New York. But, because the Blueshirts retain the option of deferring that selection exchange until 2017, Gorton can still trade this year’s first-rounder, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Post in an email exchange.

“It is not self-effectuating,” Daly wrote. “The Rangers can decide to transfer their [first] in 2016 or their [first] in 2017, and must notify Arizona prior to the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery which it will be.

“Once they notify, the pick becomes Arizona’s,” the deputy commissioner continued. “Prior to then, [the Rangers] would be able to transfer either of the two picks [2016 or 2017] but not both.”

So theoretically, the Rangers could use their 2016 No. 1 to tempt Yzerman — who has the Steven Stamkos Sword of Damocles swinging over his head — though a (potential lottery) first-rounder plus Yandle would seem a considerable overpayment, even for a player with Drouin’s projected upside.