“Wayne has a no-trade contract, so how could I talk to anybody about trading him even if I wanted to, which, and please emphasize this, I do not want to. The story is a total fabrication.” RANGER GM NEIL SMITH

SUNRISE, Fla. – Wayne Gretzky laughed off reports initiated by Glen Sather that the Oilers GM had called Neil Smith Tuesday to try to bring The Great One back to Edmonton.

Smith, on the other hand, was not laughing at all.

“Knowing Slats, I’m sure he was just trying to create a stir,” Gretzky, chuckling, told The Post prior to last night’s match here against the Panthers. “Every time I’ve seen him for the last few years, he’s been saying, ‘Come on back, Gretz, and finish your career in Edmonton; you know that’s the way it should be.’

“There isn’t anything more to it than that. It’s nothing that anyone should get excited about or take too seriously.”

Smith was anything but excited about the issue after Sather was quoted in the Edmonton Journal, saying: “I asked Smitty if he would like to move Wayne to Edmonton for the rest of the year. He didn’t exactly say yes. Wayne probably would have been very excited to come here. Maybe he wouldn’t. I don’t know.”

The Ranger GM at first refused to respond to questions on the matter. When pressed, he became annoyed, both at the continuing interrogation and at Sather.

“Why would I have to respond to something like that? I’m not going to,” he said. “I don’t understand why this is an issue for me. It isn’t. It may be an issue for Sather, it may be an issue in Edmonton, it may be an issue across Canada, but it isn’t an issue for the New York Rangers.

“I don’t understand why Slats would start something like this, anyway. I don’t understand the mentality of general managers talking about other team’s players.”

When it was suggested to Smith that the Rangers should file tampering charges against the Oilers, the GM shrugged.

“I don’t know what good that would really do the Rangers,” he said.

Two weeks ago, a report appeared in the Toronto Sun suggesting that an unnamed team had not only inquired about obtaining Gretzky, but was not immediately rebuffed.

“That is simply not true,” Smith told The Post when asked about that story. “In the first place, Wayne has a no-trade contract, so how could I talk to anybody about trading him even if I wanted to, which, and please emphasize this, I do not want to.

“The story is a total fabrication.”

Gretzky, who played his second game last night after missing 12 with a cervical disc protrusion, has steadfastly maintained that he has no intention of finishing his career anywhere but in New York. The Great One has a team option in his contract coming up this summer for $5 million, $1M less than he’s earning this season.

Smith was asked Tuesday whether the Rangers intend to pick up the option.

“I’ve said countless times that I can’t see why we wouldn’t do it,” the GM responded.

Sather on Tuesday also implied that Gretzky would be a free agent this summer, and that the Oilers would take another shot then at bringing 99 back to Edmonton.

“If he thinks that Wayne’s a free agent, that just shows how informed all his comments were on this issue,” said Smith, who then tossed a zinger at Sather, who spends a fair amount of the winter at his Palm Springs home.

“What’s the matter?” the GM asked rhetorically. “Don’t they have computers [with NHL contract data bases] in Palm Springs?”

On another issue arising from Tuesday’s trade deadline day, Smith also became agitated when interrogated about his dealing with the Flyers regarding Ulf Samuelsson.

In response to a question Tuesday, the GM had said – truthfully – that Philadelphia GM Bob Clarke had not called to ask about the defenseman, who was eventually sent to Detroit for a pair of draft picks.

A Flyer front office source told Philadelphia reporters that Smith had called Clarke, and when told the Flyers had some interest in Samuelsson, promised to call Clarke back, but never did.

Smith at first refused to discuss the issue, and became agitated when this reporter suggested that his response Tuesday had been misleading.

“Why is this an issue? Why is Philadelphia talking about phone calls with another team?” Smith said. “The trade deadline is over. Why should I have to respond to what other people are saying?”

Finally, though, Smith did respond.

“What happened is that I called Clarke. He told me that he had some interest, but I gauged his response to be lukewarm, at best, and if even that,” Smith said. “I never told him I would call him back.

“But let me ask this. If the Flyers had really wanted Sammy, why didn’t Clarke call me before 3:00? My phone has a ringer, too.”