NHL

Callahan, Rangers drama likely to spill into Olympic break

Unless something unexpected develops in the hours before Friday’s 3 p.m. pre-Olympics roster freeze, Ryan Callahan will go through the break as a both a Ranger and a pending unrestricted free agent.

Which means the countdown on the captain’s future will begin anew and in more earnest from the moment the freeze is lifted hours after the Feb. 23 gold medal game in Sochi, Russia, through the NHL’s March 5 trade deadline.

The Post has learned there was essentially no progress the last two days toward overcoming the impasse in negotiations between the Blueshirts and No. 24, even as general manager Glen Sather and Callahan’s agent, Steve Bartlett, renewed discussions, with the gap between the parties remaining as substantial as ever.

Callahan’s asking price of seven years for upward of $6.5 million per year is known around the league, so the pool of clubs interested in trading for the right winger has been narrowed to those pursuing a rental for the remainder of the season.

While a league source told The Post Sather appears determined to get something in return for Callahan rather than simply allowing him to flee as a free agent on July 1, the general manager had not received an offer enticing enough to warrant dealing the captain before the Rangers’ final two games heading into the break.

As such, Callahan was in the lineup for Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Oilers at the Garden, just as he is expected to be for Friday night’s match in Pittsburgh.

Sather initially established Friday’s freeze as the target for resolving the matter in order to avoid the consequences that would arise should Callahan suffer an injury playing for Team USA in the Olympics.

The Rangers will play three games between the resumption of their schedule on Feb. 27 and the trade deadline.

Meanwhile, the situation concerning Dan Girardi, also a pending unrestricted free agent, also will remain unresolved into the winter hiatus.

Though the parties appeared last week to be closing the gap on an extension, The Post has been told that the sides have made no further progress in the interim.

League sources report the Rangers could expect to receive substantially more on the rental market for Girardi than for Callahan should Sather decide to court offers for the first-pair, right defenseman during the break.