THE NHL’s peculiar and tasteless assault against its own CBA in general and the Rangers in particular continued with its Aug. 7 rejection of both Bobby Holik’s and Darius Kasparaitis’ contracts when submitted for approval to Central Registry, a maneuver that was met with an NHLPA grievance 48 hours later, Slap Shots has learned.

The league office – which has used every bit of influence imaginable in this summer of obvious collusion to inhibit bidding on free agents – has objected to the signing-bonus covenants in each of the contracts. It’s absurd; a nuisance suit, if you will, considering that the two free-agent deals contain signing bonus clauses that are essentially boilerplate in the business, with neither constructed to extract significant lockout-proof concessions.

Holik signed a five-year, $45 million deal at $9M per that includes $10.7M in signing bonuses – $2.7M this season, $2M each season thereafter. Kasparaitis signed a six-year, $25.5M deal at between $4.1M and $4.4M per that includes $6M in signing bonuses – $1M each season.

There is nothing remotely questionable about either deal. Would that so much were true regarding the league’s behavior in this matter.

Gary Bettman is known to be personally distressed over the Rangers’ signing of Holik, with not only the dollar amount of the deal, but also with the very concept of the team outbidding Lou Lamoriello for one of the Devils’ most important players. That’s a fact. The league further is known to be embarrassed over the manner in which the 29-year-old Kasparaitis gained unrestricted free agency by outfoxing NHL representatives and the Pittsburgh front office in arbitration last summer. That’s also a fact.

Hence, rejection of the contracts by the league with an agenda, an act the Rangers, the respective players and the players’ representatives have accepted in reasonably good humor.

But if Holik and Kasparaitis didn’t know it before, they should know it now.

They’re targets.

And Glen Sather should know it, too.

The GM, once accorded Most Favored Nation Status in his days as a small-marketer by the commissioner, has lost his seat at the Round Table.

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The risk outweighs the reward, which is another way of saying we wouldn’t have taken on Theo Fleury at any price, not after the disruptions he caused on Broadway. We wonder whether Mike Smith and Brian Sutter will be as tolerant of No. 14’s breaches of conduct as were Sather and Neil Smith, as were Ron Low and John Muckler. Whether out of fear or loathing, not one Ranger executive ever did more than talk a good game when it came to disciplining Fleury. Still, we wish nothing but the best for Fleury, whose dedication to recovery is inspiring, and who deserves peace of mind.

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Ulf Dahlen, who had the same $1.65M offer on the table from the Rangers as he accepted from the Stars, didn’t so much as choose one team over the other as he chose Dallas over New York. The winger’s wife, unnerved in DC after the Sept. 11 attacks, was not up for a move to the Apple . . . Oh, and you may file this under “D” for “Delusional:” Martin Rucinsky is still telling the Rangers it will take at least $3M to get him to sign.

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Finally, Jeremy Roenick says he heard on the golf course that Pavel Brendl is coming out of retirement.Larry Brooks