In the world of contract negotiations within pro sports, when the two parties on opposite sides of the table have the same objective, they generally find the way to make it happen.
But even though the Blueshirts want to keep impending free agent Ryan Callahan in New York and the club captain maintains that is also his priority, there is every chance Friday’s 4-1 victory at the Garden over the Islanders marked No. 24’s final game as a Ranger.
Sources have told The Post general manager Glen Sather has established Friday’s 3 p.m. pre-Olympic roster freeze, rather than the March 5 trade deadline, as the time of decision regarding Callahan’s future. The Rangers want the situation resolved before the captain travels to Sochi, Russia, to play for Team USA and risks injury in The Games.
That being the case, it doesn’t make much sense for the Blueshirts to play Callahan in their two games before the Feb. 7 freeze, Tuesday and Thursday at the Garden against the Avalanche and Oilers, respectively.
Sather is being aggressive in shopping Callahan, whose availability has sparked intense interest from clubs keen on the 28-year-old either as a rental or a long-term proposition.
To that end, The Post has learned the Rangers have granted multiple clubs permission to discuss a contract extension with Callahan’s agent, Steve Bartlett. TSN first reported one team had received such permission.
“That’s news to me,” Callahan maintained after recording an assist, two hits and a blocked shot in 18:44 of ice during his 444th career game as a Blueblood. “My heart is here and I want to be here.
“That’s all I worry about.”
If Callahan were to indicate willingness to agree to the same five-year, $30 million extension Sharks (and Team USA) center Joe Pavelski signed over the summer, the Rangers would jump at it.
But the captain is holding firm to a request/demand of a seven-year extension worth a minimum of $42 million he first presented over the summer. Sather has no intention of signing the embodiment of the organization’s work ethic to a seven-year extension.
And as the GM has no intention of allowing Callahan to walk on July 1 without getting anything in return, he is being proactive. If an interested third party is willing to meet Callahan’s demands for an extension, the Rangers would be able to get more in return for the winger than they could as a rental property.
The Blues are known to have interest in Callahan, with sources confirming the Rangers’ interest in St. Louis winger Chris Stewart, a size-and-speed skater whose game likely is better suited to Blueshirts coach Alain Vigneault’s philosophy than to Blues’ coach Ken Hitchcock’s grinding style.
Stewart, who has one year remaining on his contract at a cap hit of $4.15 million, began his career with the Avalanche before being traded to St. Louis in a blockbuster deal including Kevin Shattenkirk, Erik Johnson and a first-round draft pick in 2010-11.
The 26-year-old had his best season in his sophomore season of 2009-10, recording 64 points (28 goals, 36 assists) as a linemate of center Paul Stastny, an impending free agent who would be the premier center on the July 1 open market and in whom the Rangers would have serious interest in signing.
The Rangers’ primary interest at the moment is signing Callahan to an extension. Trading a team captain in midseason — and the middle of a run such as the Blueshirts are on — is not taken lightly by anyone in the organization.
But the Blueshirts are not going seven years. Which is why Callahan is likely going … and sooner rather than later.