Is Rangers' Matt Rempe on the outside looking in?

GREENBURGH — The calculation is based on both personnel and math.

Four players are competing for the three spots on the Rangers’ fourth line.

It is a situation that Peter Laviolette fully acknowledges.

“Decisions are going to have to be made. We have extra players,” Laviolette said Friday.

To be clear, the “decisions” will be fluid, not static, and they began Wednesday when Laviolette chose to dress Jonny Brodzinski, Sam Carrick and Adam Edstrom for the season-opening 6-0 win over the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

After Friday’s morning skate, Laviolette said having Carrick, Edstrom, Brodzinski and Matt Rempe on the roster could afford him the flexibility to mix and match the line based on the opponent. Laviolette also stressed that in this instance, the decision to make Rempe a healthy scratch against the Penguins was not a reflection on how he had performed during training camp and preseason.

“There’s always guys that aren’t playing that want to play [and] that could play,” Laviolette said in Pittsburgh. “Just because somebody’s not playing doesn’t mean that they had a bad camp. Just this is the lineup we’re going with today.”

Ah, but what about tomorrow?

Decisions are yet to be made on the lineup for Saturday’s home opener against the Utah Hockey Club. It certainly is possible that Rempe could find himself among the 20 players on the game-day roster. He skated with Carrick and Edstrom during the 55-minute practice at MSG Training Center while Brodzinski rotated in.

“It’s exciting, for sure,” Rempe said when asked about the possibility of dressing either Saturday night or Monday night at the Garden against the Red Wings. “Definitely exciting.”

And not solely because it will be his first home opener as an NHL player.

It would be an opportunity for the 18,006 who regularly fill the Garden to strike up their mutual admiration society with Rempe, a Calgary native who became an instant fan favorite after being called up in February.

“He brings energy,” Laviolette said. “He brings it inside the room. He brings it in practice. He plays hard all the time. You definitely feel that at Madison Square Garden at times as well.”

That is an argument in Rempe’s favor. But the performance of the Brodzinski, Carrick and Edstrom triumvirate against the Penguins could factor into Laviolette’s decision-making.

Carrick scored 2:24 into the game and Brodzinski was credited with a secondary assist on the play. According to data culled by NaturalStatTrick.com, the line received 8:26 of ice time at five-on-five.

“Small sample size, [so] I don’t want to look too much into it, but it was a good start,” Carrick said. “Something to build on.”

Which is a justification for not making a change just for the sake of making a change.

But there will be changes in the foreseeable future. Left wing Jimmy Vesey was placed on long-term injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury. Based on the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, Vesey will have to miss at least 10 games and 24 days, which would make him available for the Nov. 3 matinee against the Islanders at the Garden.