NHL

Rangers set to sign Michigan winger Hagelin

The Rangers are expected to sign Michigan senior left wing Carl Hagelin once the Wolverines’ season ends, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post.

Should Hagelin, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2007 draft (168th overall), complete his season before the Blueshirts’ AHL Connecticut affiliate is eliminated from the playoffs, the plan would be for the 5-foot-11, 176-pound Swede to join the Whale.

Hagelin would become eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer if he does not sign with the Rangers by Aug. 15, but that is not the Swedish native’s intention.

Michigan, which finished the regular-season ranked fourth in country in the Division 1 poll, will face Western Michigan in the CCHA semifinals at Joe Louis Arena on Friday. The NCAA regionals will be conducted on the weekend of March 25-27, with the survivors advancing to the Frozen Four in St. Paul that will be played April 7-9.

The Whale completes their regular season on April 10.

Hagelin, who will turn 23 in late August, is among the three finalists for CCHA player-of-the-year. A skilled athlete whom the Blueshirts wanted to sign last summer (contract negotiations are prohibited while a player retains college eligibility, so management has been permitted to speak only in generalities to a “family advisor”), Hagelin has registered 48 points (17-30) in 38 games.

The 2007 Entry Draft was disastrous for the Blueshirts. Alex Cherepanov, the Russian winger selected 17th overall, collapsed during a KHL game in Chekhov, Russia, on Oct. 13, 2008, and died shortly thereafter at the age of 19.

Goaltender Antoine Lafleur, the club’s second-round selection, never signed a contract with the club.

Center Max Campbell, a fifth-round selection, will play against Hagelin and the Wolverines this weekend after scoring an overtime goal on Sunday against Ferris State to lift Western Michigan into the CCHA semis for the first time in 17 years.

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Bryan McCabe played his finest game as a Ranger in last night’s 6-3 win over the Islanders. He scored his first goal in his eighth game with the club by drilling home a 5-on-3 power play drive from 40 feet on the right side, and he also played strong away from the puck in 17:34 of ice including 13:49 at even strength paired with Steve Eminger.

McCabe made a huge play coming back to deny Matt Martin‘s shorthanded rush with just over 4:40 to go in the second and the Rangers on top 3-2.

After McCabe angled the puck off Martin’s stick, Marian Gaborik scored the first of his two goals on the ensuing rush by wristing one past the beleaguered Al Montoya at 15:09 to signal the beginning of the end for the Islanders.

“It was just like a one-on-one,” McCabe said. “And then Gabby went coast-to-coast. That’s incredible talent.”

Gaborik, who reached the 20-goal mark when he rifled one past relief netminder Nathan Lawson at 12:43, was engaged throughout the match.

“I hope Gabby gained some confidence,” coach John Tortorella said. “God knows he had some chances, he played defense, he had his legs moving.”

Gaborik has scored five goals in five games against the Islanders including a Dec. 2 hat trick at the Coliseum.

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Sean Avery was hit with three penalties in his return to the lineup that followed his first scratch of the year in San Jose on Saturday after playing the first 69 contests.

Avery, who had not been called for a penalty in his last 12 games, slammed Micheal Haley into the boards from behind on his first shift, at 2:47 of the first.

The winger was assessed a two-minute minor, though once the NHL revises its guidelines on boarding, that likely would be a five-minute major.

Avery was called for a bogus goaltender interference (while drawing a matching roughing call on Kyle Okposo) in the second and was called for roughing at 15:12 of the third when he got his gloves up into Justin DiBenedetto‘s face trying to get to the net on an offensive zone draw.

Tortorella was seen shaking his head in dismay when Avery — who played 7:18 on 14 shifts — was sent to the box. The Islanders scored their final goal on the power play.

“That’s my business,” Tortorella said when asked what he had been thinking.

Avery replaced Wojtek Wolski scratched for the first time in 28 games since coming to the Rangers from Phoenix on Jan. 10.

Wolski was benched for all but 1:53 in the third period of Saturday’s 3-2 shootout victory in San Jose, though Tortorella did give the winger one spin in overtime and selected him to go third in the skills competition.

Eminger, who had been scratched in four of the last five and 13 of 18 since the All-Star break played at the expense of Matt Gilroy, who was scratched for the first time since Jan. 2.

Gilroy had sat for all but 1:44 in the third period against the Sharks.

“I’m not going to pick through the players [who sit] each day,” Tortorella said before the match. “With [Wolski], I think he needs to be better in certain areas.

“He wasn’t horrible [on Saturday],” he said. “He just needs to be better. Just like [Gilroy].”

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Al Montoya, whom the Rangers selected sixth overall out of Michigan in the 2004 Entry Draft, made his Garden debut but struggled, allowing five goals on 36 shots before being pulled after the second period.

Montoya, who never played a game for the Rangers before being sent to Phoenix on Feb. 26, 2008 in the deal that brought Fred Sjostrom to New York, had gone 7-2-3 since the Islanders acquired him from the Coyotes on Feb. 9.

“I think he looked tired,” said Islanders’ coach Jack Capuano, whose team entered the match having gone 4-0-3 in the previous seven, 10-3-4 in the previous 17, and 22-14-6 beginning Dec. 16. “He has been battling for us, and I think he looked a little fatigued.

“Pucks were flying into some holes, but I thought he looked a little tired.”

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Derek Boogaard, sidelined since Dec. 9 with a concussion, participated in yesterday morning’s optional skate after skating on his own last week while the Rangers were on the West Coast. He is not expected to play in the rest of the way.

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Rangers face sixth-place Canadiens on Friday at the Garden before a Sunday afternoon match in Pittsburgh. The Blueshirts trail the Habs by five points, with Montreal holding one game in hand.