WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Twelve days and six games away from the Feb. 25 trade deadline, The Post has learned that Blueshirts’ general manager Jeff Gorton has not engaged in contract extension talks with either Kevin Hayes or Mats Zuccarello.
Hence, the Rangers are on course to trade both impending free agents as rental properties in exchange for draft picks and NHL-ready prospects in a continuation of the rebuild policy instituted one year ago. The question therefore is not so much, “if” as “when and to whom?” You’d have to think the team will pull Hayes and Zuccarello from the lineup sooner rather than later in order to protect against a deal-wrecking injury.