NHL

SHANAHAN STATUS ON ICE FOR UNBEATEN RANGERS

The crux of the summer argument against signing Brendan Shanahan was that bringing him back would stand in the way of young wingers Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes.

But 4-0-0 into the season that continues tonight with a delicious Garden match-up against the 2-0-0 Devils, Dawes and Prucha already have both been healthy scratches while the Rangers carry three extra forwards and Shanahan orbits the club as a satellite awaiting direction from Mission Control.

“No change,” GM Glen Sather replied yesterday afternoon by e-mail to a Post inquiry regarding the status of Shanahan, who diligently continues to work out and skate on his own at the Rangers’ practice rink.

Prucha has been out the last two games after playing the opening pair in Prague. Dawes was out Saturday night in Philadelphia. That, incidentally, marked the first time in their two seasons together on the roster that both were scratched from the same game.

So what now? What now for Dawes and Prucha, what now for Shanahan, and what now for Sather and Renney?

For now, the focus will be on the third line, which has Ryan Callahan pretty much set in stone on the right, plus five largely interchangeable parts on the roster vying for the other two spots and one very different part not on the roster hoping to be added to the mix.

Lauri Korpikoski has struggled in the middle the last two games. Renney has the option of shifting the freshman to his more natural wing position while using the versatile Dan Fritsche – who has yet to suit up – as the third-line pivot. Or, of course, he could scratch Korpikoski and simply replace him with Fritsche while keeping Patrick Rissmiller at left wing. Or, he could call on Dawes or Prucha.

Korpikoski is eating $1,017,533 of cap space. He does not require waivers in order to go to the AHL Wolf Pack. The Rangers will not allow Korpikoski to bounce in and out of uniform. If he isn’t in regularly either on the wing or in the middle, he’ll go to Hartford, thus creating an opening in the lineup and on the roster.

But what if neither Korpikoski nor Fritsche is capable of handling third-line center minutes?

Would the Rangers then move Chris Drury off Scott Gomez’s right side in order to get him back into the middle, a shift that would create dramatic ripple effects throughout the lineup that could include Nik Zherdev moving up and Shanahan moving in?

Shanahan isn’t standing in the way of Dawes or Prucha. The questions – two of a series of questions, quite obviously – are whether Shanahan will be invited to walk through the door, and if so, when?

For the longer Shanahan remains out, the more alien his presence on a team that is enthusiastically embracing its collective identity will become.

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Henrik Lundqvist is 12-2-4 lifetime in the regular-season against Martin Brodeur, 5-3 in the playoffs. Rangers are 14-6-4 against New Jersey since the lockout, including last year’s unprecedented 7-0-1 that preceded a five-game, first-round playoff kayo.

While praising Devils and summer reacquisitions Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston, Tom Renney yesterday said, “I don’t think we should underestimate what’s behind that bench [Brent Sutter], not that anybody does. He’s on a mission.”

larry.brooks@nypost.com