The Rangers are keeping their options open.

All of them.

And if you want to know why the Blueshirts dispatched Filip Chytil to the AHL Wolf Pack instead of sending him back home to his native Czech Republic following a two-game trial run on Broadway, here is as good of an answer as any, provided by the 18-year-old himself and relayed by general manager Jeff Gorton.

“In his mind,” the GM told The Post on Tuesday before the Rangers’ 3-1 loss to the Blues at the Garden, “Filip is an NHL player.”

Gorton did not need Chytil’s permission to assign him to the AHL. But the GM made it clear that Chytil — who is also eligible to play for North Bay of the OHL—was sympatico with the organization’s decision.

“I had a talk with Filip this morning where we discussed what would be best for him,” Gorton said. “And doing what’s best for him and his long-term interests are the priority.

“We want to see more of him before we come to the conclusion that he should go back to Czech—if that’s the decision. There’s no timetable on this. It depends on how it goes for him in Hartford. It could be a long-term thing, it might not be.

“We want to give him a chance. And he wants that chance.”

Chytil, the 21st-overall selection in the 2017 draft, had an eye-opening training camp. He forced his way into contention for a job on the opening roster that he nailed down with an impressive string of performances during the exhibition season.

The Rangers, in serious need of skill down the middle, gave him a sweater and a spot in the lineup between big-time wingers Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello for the Oct. 5 opener against Colorado. But he played only 7:40 in the 4-2 defeat and then got only 4:59 in the Oct. 7 loss in Toronto, sitting for the final 33:03. He was a healthy scratch Sunday for a 2-0 victory over Montreal.

“He was the first to admit that the pace and competition stepped up from the pre-season,” Gorton said. “Filip said that he was a little bit nervous on the ice. So we wanted to get him to a place where he would get the time he needs to develop. And he is going to get all the time he needs there.”

The Rangers are doing right by themselves and by Chytil. They are not forcing the issue the way they did in the last 90’s when the pipeline was dry, the club was was bereft of young talent and Manny Malhotra was on the roster as an 18-year-old as part of a PR campaign designed to prove that the organization had NHL-ready kids.

There is always a push-pull with kids. The Rangers on Monday claimed 32-year-old journeyman Adam Cracknell off waivers to play on the fourth-line rather than promote 22-year-old Vinni Lettieri, who had crackling training camp, from the Wolf Pack. They suddenly have nine guys on the other side of 30.

But 26-and-unders Mika Zibanejad Chris Kreider, Brady Skjei, J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes have major roles. It is true that Alain Vigneault — like most coaches around the league — will trust guys who have done it before even when that trust is no longer warranted (e.g., Dan Boyle), but it is not true to paint him with the wide brush of holding back kids.

“We want to give Filip more time to acclimate himself to the smaller rink surface over here, which he acknowledged that he needs,” Gorton said. “And he wants it.

“Over the summer when we talked, he saw himself as either in the NHL or playing back home. But that’s changed, at least for now. I told him that we want to be able to keep an eye on him, to watch him play, to see how he progresses. We’re not rushing to any decision on him.

“As far as the world junior tournament, that didn’t come up in our talk. That’s a long way off. He didn’t ask about it. That’s not our focus. Our focus is to do what we can to see him gate better.

And the world junior is not his focus. His focus is on playing for the Rangers.

“You know what, too? We have control here. I don’t mean control of the player, I mean control over how much he plays, what line he plays on, whether he’s on the power play. It’s nice to have control, sometimes.