The Rangers approached yesterday’s NHL trade deadline hoping to strengthen their chances of reaching the playoffs.
But deadline day passed with the Rangers making no major deals and — in a blow to their postseason aspirations — learning backup goaltender Martin Biron and captain Chris Drury are most likely lost for the remainder of the regular season because of injuries.
Biron broke his collarbone yesterday during practice and is out indefinitely.
“It’s a big loss to our team,” Rangers general manager Glen Sather said on a conference call.
Sather said he spoke with a couple of teams about acquiring a replacement for Biron before yesterday’s 3 p.m. deadline, but decided the price was too high.
Biron, who signed with the Rangers as a free agent after spending last season with the Islanders, has excelled as Henrik Lundqvist’s backup. He is 8-6 with a 2.13 goals-against average in 17 games.
The seventh-place Rangers, who tonight play host to the ninth-place Sabres (five points back with three games in hand), called up Cam Talbot to replace Biron.
The injury will force the Rangers to rely more heavily on Lundqvist, who is no stranger to an intense workload. After playing in 73 games a year ago, Lundqvist has played in 50 games this season. But even if Lundqvist plays in the team’s final 18 games, he still will finish the season with fewer than 70 games played for the first time since 2005-06, his rookie season.
“Henrik likes to play,” Sather said. “He likes to play all the time if he can. I think the backup will play one or two more games between now and the end. I don’t see any more than that.
“Henrik loves the work. He’s had a lot of time off. I think we’ll get through this fairly well.”
Sather’s announcement that he didn’t expect Drury to return before the end of the regular season is the latest setback in what has been a miserable season for the 34-year-old captain.
“That’s the biggest question mark [about our injured players],” Sather said. “I don’t think he will be back.”
Drury, who has no goals and four assists in 23 games this season, had missed a combined 20 games over the past eight seasons.
After sitting out 31 of the first 32 games with a twice-broken finger, Drury underwent surgery on his left knee, which had been bothering him for some time, earlier this month.
Sather saying Drury will not return before the end of the regular season contradicts the initial timeframe the Blueshirts provided for Drury’s return. The team first said Drury would miss about six weeks, putting him on track for a return in late March.
➤ The Rangers made one small move before the deadline, acquiring center John Mitchell from Toronto for a 2012 seventh-round pick. Mitchell, 26, was assigned to the Ranger AHL affiliate, the Connecticut Whale.
tbontemps@nypost.com