It turns out that it only seems as if this has been the worst Ranger season in memory.

Because a check of the standings – and when is the last time anyone associated with, or who cares about, the Rangers actually checked the standings? – reveals that despite the club’s efforts to create a slew of negative hallmarks, the Blueshirts actually are destined to remain mathematically alive in the playoff race for at least as long as they did in 2000-01.

Going into last night’s Garden match against the Devils, the 73rd of the season, the tragic number for a seventh straight playoff miss rested at eight – the combination of points gained by the eighth-place Islanders and lost by the 13th-place Blueshirts.

With the Islanders playing twice before the Rangers go next on Thursday in Washington, that means the Blueshirts cannot be eliminated earlier than with that game, and only then if the Islanders win in Tampa tomorrow and in Sunrise on Wednesday while Tom Renney’s team loses twice.

That scenario would match the comparative ineptitude of the 2000-01 team, the third of the current elimination edition, which also was eliminated after Game 74. Other teams remained on life support a bit longer.

Last year’s actually remained alive until eliminated with a Game 81 loss to the Devils. Two years ago, elimination came after Game 79, just as it did in 1999-2000. The first two teams to miss, the 1997-98 and 1998-99 editions, both became extinct following Game 77.

It’s become routine now – only Jaromir Jagr, new to this, ever refers to making the playoffs (“We could win them all and the Islanders could lose them all; why not?” he said again over the weekend) – but back in the first year it was somewhat of a shock to the system.

It certainly was a shock to Mike Richter, that’s for sure.

On April 5, 1998, the Rangers defeated the Blackhawks, 2-1, on Daniel Goneau’s overtime goal. Despite the win, the Rangers were eliminated when the eighth-place Senators also won that afternoon. After the match in Chicago, Richter, who had recorded the victory, was asked how he felt about being out of the playoffs.

“You know what, until we’re mathematically out, I’m not going to even think about the possibility,” he said.

Told gently that the team was indeed mathematically out, the netminder paused.

“That’s different,” he said.

It was then. It won’t be now.

*

RJ Umberger, the 16th-overall selection in the 2001 Entry Draft whose rights the Rangers obtained from Vancouver last Tuesday in the Martin Rucinsky trade, will begin skating with the team tomorrow. The 21-year-old, 6-2, 200-pound centerman out of Ohio State will remain with the Rangers for a look-see through their three-game trip to Washington, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh that begins Thursday and commences Sunday.

Umberger has been sitting out this season after failing to reach a contract agreement with the Canucks. Thus, he will become an unrestricted free agent if he is not signed by the Rangers prior to June 2. As reported last Thursday by The Post, the Blueshirts would like Umberger to sign a tryout form with the AHL Wolf Pack – whom he is tentatively scheduled to join next week – so they can get a further look at him before deciding whether to sign him to a contract.

If Umberger does become a free agent, the Rangers will get the 16th pick in the second round of this year’s Entry Draft. That, however, would not preclude the Blueshirts from then signing the centerman on the open market while keeping the pick.