That was a clap of hockey thunder over the Hudson last night, a roar by the name of Bobby Holik, whose free agent defection from the Meadowlands to Manhattan signals a shift in the balance of power that had been tilted New Jersey’s way for almost a decade.

There is no alternative interpretation. By awarding the one-time Devils’ franchise center the five-year, $45 million deal he coveted, the Rangers not only got the player they had coveted for the last 11 months, but at the same time alerted the NHL they would look after their own interests no matter the opinion of anyone at league headquarters.

This much is clear. Glen Sather, the gentleman from Banff for so long the personification of the Canadian small market, became a native New Yorker last night. In stepping forward to seize the moment when presented to him by the fierce 31-year-old pivot who for years had terrorized a succession of cowering Blueshirt squads, Sather not only broke from his mold, but from an NHL frozen by inactivity on a curious Day One of the free agent market.

“Bobby was certainly the number one forward we had rated at our player personnel meetings this spring,” the GM said last night. “He was the maximum priority.”

Through the first 18 hours following the ringing of the midnight bell, despite the delivery of impressive recruiting messages via personal player phone calls and pre-packaged videos to Holik, Billy Guerin, Tony Amonte, Darius Kasparaitis and Chris Chelios, Sather appeared to be marching lockstep with his fellow general managers in a strategy orchestrated by Gary Bettman to dampen league-wide spending.

Though presumably not guilty of encouraging collusion in a legal sense, the commissioner clearly had counseled clubs against coming out of the gate with contract offers in the expected $8-10M range, advice aimed at forcing the players to set the market themselves by making requests of those teams that had expressed interest in negotiating. While successful in producing a postponement of spending, the scheme is doomed to ultimate failure.

Because as clubs weigh an alleged common good against their own needs, self-interest becomes paramount. Which is why the Rangers stepped up to add Holik when facing the moment of truth and why they were crafting a proposal to Kasparaitis as last night became morning.

Holik, whom the Blueshirts had been targeting since the moment he filed for arbitration last August, received a late-afternoon five-year, $40M offer from Toronto, a deal the Devils apparently wouldn’t match despite previous Lou Lamoriello vows about doing everything in his power to keep the strong-willed center. Having this information in hand, Sather then nailed down his deal. At just past 9:00 last night, Holik became Broadway Bobby after having spent the previous 10 years on Paterson Plank Road.

“Bobby is a big dominant center who brings a lot of intangibles,” said Sather. “He works hard. He plays hard every night. He’s physical. He’s good on faceoffs. He’s going to make it a lot more difficult for teams to check Eric.

“He was the most important piece as far as forwards go for us to add. He’s a unique player in his own way.”

Meanwhile, after balking at the 40-year-old Chelios’ request for a two-year, $14M deal, Sather turned to the mean-edged 30-year-old Kasparaitis. Even as the Islanders unaccountably refused to tender Kasparaitis an offer, Sather was working on a five-year proposal believed in the neighborhood of $22.5M.

Though they checked in yesterday with Mike Richter, the Rangers had not submitted a proposal to bring the goaltender back to the Garden. At the same time, they had not contacted Curtis Joseph, believed on his way out of Toronto and known to be the Red Wings’ first choice to replace Dominik Hasek.

As of nightfall, Sather had not yet declared his intentions regarding Amonte, who had received nibbles from San Jose; or regarding Guerin.

Bobby Holik

AGE: 31

HEIGHT: 6-4

WEIGHT: 230 pounds

POSITION: Center

BIRTHPLACE: Jihlava, Czech Republic

MOST GOALS: 29 in 1997-98

CAREER SCORING: 240 goals, 311 assists in 878 career games

PLAYOFF SCORING: 16 goals, 36 assists in 52 games

HIGHLIGHTS: 10th overall selection by the Hartford Whalers in 1989 Entry Draft, won two Stanley Cups with the Devils in 1995, 2000, two-time All-Star selection (1998, 1999) , became a U.S. citizen in 1996