Rangers drop huge clue on how regular season lineup will shakeout

When the Rangers unveiled their lineup Friday for the preseason finale, it served as “the closest thing to a full lineup that we’ve had of any of the exhibition games to this point,” head coach Mike Sullivan said.And that’d mean that fourth-line winger Matt Rempe and rookie defenseman Alberts Smits are seemingly in the driver’s seat for the final two spots for the Blueshirts’ opening night group.Nothing will become official until the Rangers make their final cuts and trim their roster to — at most — 23 players by Monday, but the scene at their morning skate before a match against the Islanders at UBS Arena that essentially served as a dress rehearsal was telling.

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.Rempe was with the fourth line.

Smits, as he has all preseason, skated with Braden Schneider.The extras who stayed on after the session as likely scratches included defensemen Matthew Robertson and Scott Morrow as well as forwards Taylor Raddysh and Jaroslav Chmelar.While Sullivan didn’t provide many hints about the final calls, he said that Smits — picked No.

5 overall in June’s draft — has “certainly made a compelling argument through his play that he’s capable of playing in the NHL.” Smits impressed Sullivan with his physicality and sharp passing as an 18-year-old, but similar to the Rangers’ call with Gabe Perreault last training camp, when they sent him to AHL Hartford, they want to ensure that Smits can be an impactful player on their roster.Both the left-handed Robertson and right-handed Morrow would have to clear waivers before getting assigned to AHL Hartford, while the left-handed Smits is waiver-exempt.“I think it’s been evident to us that he has that already,” Sullivan said of Smits’ physical stature, “and it’s only gonna get better.”The presence of Rempe alongside Tye Kartye and Joe Veleno continued ...