NHL

Rangers may go rags to Richards

The first day of NHL free agency is about the rich getting richer.

For the Rangers, if not the Maple Leafs, Lightning, Kings, Flyers and Sabres, today will be about learning just how much richer the club will have to make Brad Richards in order to get the class of 2011’s lone upper-echelon center to sign on the bottom line.

If Richards is going to make his choice purely on dollars, then the Rangers are extremely unlikely to become involved in a bidding war, let alone win one.

The combination of Richards’ rewarding history with head coach John Tortorella, the Rangers’ urgent need for a blue-chip, first-line pivot and the paucity of elite centers immediately available through either free agency or the trade market, will likely prompt general manager Glen Sather to offer up to six years for up to an average of $7 million per in a dramatically front-loaded offer.

2011-12 SCHEDULE

If that’s not enough, however, it is unimaginable that the Garden will throw more (and more and more) at No. 91 to entice him to play Broadway.

If it’s truly going to take an eight- or nine-year front-loaded deal worth between $55-60 million to sign Richards — Buffalo is believed preparing an offer even larger in scope — and if Richards is going to need a match to become a Ranger, Sather will hold on to his cash for a later day and another option.

As Tortorella said yesterday about free agents in general: “I don’t believe in talking people into something. If they don’t want to be here, I don’t want them.”

Richards’ agent, Pat Morris, has implied that Richards might not commit today. It’s not so certain, however, that clubs extending lucrative offers will be willing to keep them on the table to accommodate Richards’ timetable if the money/cap space might be needed for an alternate option.

The Rangers do not have pressing cap issues for either the summer or the season. Sather therefore has room to maneuver. That doesn’t mean that it’s wise to surrender that maneuverability today, this weekend, or even this summer, for cap space during the season is a significant asset, too.

If the Blueshirts have a concern today, it’s that restricted free agent Michael Sauer could receive an offer sheet.

The 23-year-old defenseman, whose rookie season was a revelation, received a qualifying offer of $550,000. An offer sheet up to $1.567 million per would yield only a third-round pick to the Rangers in compensation; an offer worth up to $3.134 million per comes with compensation of only a second-rounder.

The Blueshirts would surely match, but it would upset the salary structure on defense and cut into the club’s cap space. One wonders if the Islanders, who could use the player and could use the contract to get to the floor, would challenge the Rangers over Sauer.

Other than Richards, the Blueshirts are believed interested in Pittsburgh winger Mike Rupp, perhaps in Vancouver forward Tanner Glass among depth forwards.

Sather is believed interested as well in Calgary defenseman Anton Babchuk and in Columbus defenseman Jan Hejda, though the price on each could escalate beyond the Rangers’ reach.

“Lets’ not add somebody just for the sake of adding,” said Tortorella. “If it isn’t what we need, if it isn’t the right piece, I’d rather stand pat.”

Same goes if it isn’t the right price.

larry.brooks@nypost.com