The Rangers' cuts so far have been of the color-by-number variety: predetermined and uninspiring. All, that is, except one. All except for the Rangers sending 20-year-old winger Alex Bourret to Hartford's AHL camp as part of the first wave of minor-league assignments. "Alex is a great kid who's going to be just fine, but there might have been a bit of message in it, too," coach Tom Renney told The Post yesterday. "In all sincerity, Alex wasn't in the best condition to play hockey and compete for a job, but I don't mean that he was out of shape because he'd been lazy over the summer. That's not it. "We as an organization have to assume our share of the responsibility for not doing as good a job as we might have in monitoring Alex's program over the summer after we'd given it to him at the end of last year, but he went into a weight-training program that made him too bulked up and muscular to handle the puck, and contrary to what was necessary to enhance his skills." Bourret, selected by the Thrashers 16th overall in the 2005 Entry Draft and acquired by the Rangers at last season's trade deadline for Pascal Dupuis and a third-round pick, is an offense-minded right wing who scored 16 goals in 68 AHL games last season for the Wolves and Wolf Pack. He impressed in last week's Prospects Tournament in Travers City, Mich., that the Rangers' rookies won.