Brett Howden’s return leaves Rangers with lineup dilemma

Brett Howden, who has missed the past 14 games since sustaining a sprained MCL during the first period of the Blueshirts’ Jan. 29 match against the Flyers, seems ready to rejoin the lineup.

But where and at the expense of whom are decisions David Quinn must make if the 20-year-old freshman (21 at the end of the month) is inserted into Sunday afternoon’s Garden fray against the Capitals.

Does Brendan Smith, the defenseman who has done a credible job playing fourth-line left wing, come out? Does Connor Brickley, who has brought jam to his role as a fourth-line right wing, take a seat? Does Howden knock either Boo Nieves or Lias Andersson out of the middle and onto the wing?

Or does Howden shift to the wing, where — for the one and only time this season — he had lined up in that contest against the Flyers, following a four-game stay on the fourth line centering Pavel Buchnevich and Cody McLeod?

How much of this is about constructing the strongest lineup to defeat Washington, and how much of this is about getting a look at people and potential combinations for 2019-20? Even with Kevin Hayes off to Winnipeg, the Blueshirts have more natural centers who they can jam into the middle, and that is not counting Filip Chytil, who is slated to watch in street clothes for the third straight game.

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Howden, whose encouraging start centering the third line backed up his impressive training camp, rookie tournament and prospect camp performances, appeared to have hit the proverbial rookie wall — and hard — by the end of November.

After recording 12 points (4-8) in his first 20 games while a staple on the second power-play and penalty-kill rotation, Howden recorded three points — all assists — over his final 28 games, even while maintaining his specialty-team roles for most of that stretch.

His peripheral numbers were even more ghastly — 38.8 percent Corsi, 37.9 shot share, minus-12 (8/20) rating — over the period beginning Nov. 21 for a team whose overall underlying stats are generally the worst in the league.

There is no doubt, however, management believes Howden will be part of the core of the next generation. The questions only concern his spot in the lineup for the immediate future. If the Rangers line up with Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome one-two down the middle — remember, Strome played 17 of his first 22 games on the wing following his Nov. 16 acquisition from Edmonton, and six of them on Howden’s right — then who is three?

Is it Andersson, who has skated between Brendan Lemieux and Buchnevich the last two games, or is it Howden? And does the other move to the middle of the fourth line, thus displacing Nieves, whose work the last month has been the most encouraging of his brief career, or go to the wing?

The Rangers were off on Saturday, so no information regarding the identity of Sunday’s netminder, either, though it would seem more likely than not that Alex Georgiev will get the call against the Caps.

The Blueshirts have split the last 12 games between Georgiev and Henrik Lundqvist, whose 37th birthday on Saturday was presumably a less hectic one than his 36th, which he marked with a 50-save, 3-1 victory in Calgary two nights after stopping 50 shots in a 6-5 victory in Vancouver. Those twin performances made Lundqvist the first goaltender to make 50 saves in consecutive games since the NHL started tracking the statistic in 1955.

Lundqvist, in nets for Friday’s 4-2 empty-net abetted defeat to Montreal, is 1-5-2 with a 3.14 GAA and .907 save percentage over his past eight starts. February represented the first full, non-April month of the Swede’s 14-year career in which he won only one game (1-4-2). Lundqvist played one game in February 2015 and two games that March as he recovered from the serious throat injury he sustained that season.

Georgiev is 4-1-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .915 save percentage over his past six outings.