The competition between Erik Gustafsson and Zac Jones for the third-pair spot on the left side never quite materialized.

That is not because the 22-year-old Jones faltered in his training camp audition. The third-year pro has been fine.

Rather, it is because the 31-year-old Gustafsson has played up to his status as a six-year NHL veteran who, additionally, played last season for head coach Peter Laviolette in Washington.

The Swede entered camp as the incumbent. He has not been dislodged.

“Knowing the coach and his system has made it more comfortable for me,” Gustafsson told The Post on Saturday. “Last year, when I came into Washington with a brand new team, system and coach, it took me awhile to get the process of how he wants the D to work.

“But this camp, I feel a lot more confident. It’s a system I know how to play, and it fits me with the way the coach likes the defense to get up on the rush.”

Laviolette likes his defensemen to be mobile and to be able to jump. There is obviously more to it, though. Defensemen are integral to the neutral-zone-lock system the Rangers are learning and will employ this season.

“You know how when you play against L.A. or teams that lock against you, it’s very tough for the defensemen to go through that lock,” No. 56 said. “If you can do it well, OK, but if you don’t and you lose the puck at the offensive blue line or the red line, it’s going back the other way. You have to be careful with that.

“It’s not just the lock. Lavvy wants to play fast hockey out there, so whenever we get the puck, he wants to transition and go the other way, north all the time. He doesn’t want you to go behind your net and stay there, stuff like that. He wants to play fast, and I think that benefits the defense even if you’re not an offensive guy.”

Jones is an offensive guy. His forte is running the power play. But, if the team has full health, it’s going to be difficult for him to get a power-play assignment in a lineup that features blue-line candidates for the point in Adam Fox, Gustafsson, K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba.

That, of course, is in addition to forwards who play the top.

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The intrigue surrounding the makeup of the defense concerns the seven-eight spots.

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Jones, who over the summer signed a two-year, one-way contract worth an AAV of $812,500 per, would have to clear waivers to be sent back to Hartford.

But there is essentially no chance he would clear. There is essentially no way GM Chris Drury would take that risk.

But the Rangers don’t want to lose veteran Ben Harpur, who brings physical and pugilistic elements to the mix with which the team is not exactly overflowing. The 6-foot-6, 28-year-old, five-year NHL veteran, who played 42 games with the Blueshirts last season, also would need to clear waivers to be sent to Hartford.

Harpur probably would not be claimed, but did anyone expect the Sharks to claim righty Ty Emberson off waivers last week? Did anybody expect the Blackhawks to claim Jarred Tinordi off the Blueshirts’ list at the end of last year’s training camp? There would be some risk involved in exposing Harpur, who is entering the first season of a two-year, one-way deal worth an AAV of $787,500 per.

The Rangers do not have the cap space to accommodate the NHL-max 23-man roster. So if the team carries eight defensemen, they would not be able to keep an extra forward. That’s dicey.

Maybe the team could go that way off the hop with the opening two games in Buffalo and Columbus that are followed by two at the Garden, but it would be essentially impossible to maintain that setup on the Blueshirts’ five-game trip out west that commences Oct. 21.

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Gerard Gallant, Laviolette’s predecessor behind the bench, made it clear he believed in size-and-strength defensemen, certainly for those on the third pair.

Laviolette on Saturday didn’t take that approach when asked about the value of size, strength and physicality vs. a smaller skilled defenseman.

“I’ve had plenty — ‘small’ is probably the wrong word — I’ve had plenty of guys who are not 6-3, 6-4, that have been really good players and really good defensemen,” Laviolette said. “So for me there’s a hockey sense, there’s a compete.

“I find that guys who are not in that 6-2 to 6-5 category — maybe they’re under 5-11 — I find they’re really good with positioning of how they defend. They take away time and space, they use their stick quickly and in the right way. They use angles really well, they get in lanes.

“So I have worked with defensemen in the past who have played really good defense,” the coach said without citing the 5-foot-10 Jones. “For me, I think we’re just looking for the most complete set of defensemen that we can get as a group, that we can keep here with seven or eight.

“I think sometimes the game might dictate things as well as it comes to the opponent and what we might need, but I think we’re in pretty good shape.”

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Following up on Laviolette’s mention of keeping “seven or eight,” the coach was asked whether he would be comfortable opening with two spares on the blue line.

“Chris and I would have to get to those kinds of discussions,” he said. “That will come later.”

Matt Robertson was among Sunday’s roster cuts, but the 22-year-old, 6-foot-4 lefty defenseman had his best camp since he was selected in the second round, 49th overall, in the 2019 draft.

He played with suitable confidence in earning his deepest camp look yet, and has has put himself in position to be a viable candidate for a recall should the varsity need to reach down to the Wolf Pack during the season.

“Everyone is a viable candidate,” Laviolette said. “The way it works oftentimes is you call down and find out who’s playing well. That could be two months from training camp, so what you saw in training camp could switch a little bit. But I thought he was really good. I like his size, the way he moves the puck.

“There’s a numbers restriction up here, and you can only have so much. We have to get down to numbers in order to practice. You can’t keep 28, 32 guys in camp. You have to get it down so we could practice the way we did today [with 15 forwards, including the ailing Filip Chytil and eight defensemen]. And I think it’s important to get those guys down to Hartford, get them going, get them playing well, put them in situations where they need to be so they’re ready to be recalled back here if we need them.”