This is a knotty problem any way you’d care to try and unwrap it, but sooner or later the Rangers are going to have to deal with their goaltending situation, and soon should be just around the corner.

Because for just how long do club president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton expect Igor Shesterkin to be content with his assignment to the Wolf Pack after largely mastering the AHL (7-1-2, 1.77, .936) through his first six weeks of North American pro hockey?

And I’ll tell you this, though it is difficult to assign blame to the organization over Vitali Kravtsov’s decision under different circumstances to return to Russia rather than endure in Hartford, the Rangers cannot have Shesterkin flee as well.

It is time for the Blueshirts to summon Shesterkin to Broadway in an exchange for Alex Georgiev, because three-into-two creates fractions in nets, and because Georgiev’s waivers-exempt status will expire after he plays eight more games in the NHL.

The Rangers only play one game over the next five days, Wednesday at home against the Capitals. But beginning Nov. 22, there will be six games in nine days. That represents the perfect time for Shesterkin to get into the NHL mix and work on a daily basis with goaltending coach Benny Allaire.

A demotion for Georgiev — who has played well behind the chaos that lives in the defensive zone but has had save-percentages of under .810 in two of his past three starts — would be objectively unfair to the third-year pro who will turn 24 in February. But recalling Shesterkin to add him to the mix with Georgiev and Henrik Lundqvist would be objectively unfair to all three netminders.

This is not about Lundqvist, who provides the quality veteran presence so necessary for this team that is trying to crawl, walk and run at the same time. The numbers will not add luster to his career record, and there are times that the King’s equilibrium will take a beating, but this is what Lundqvist signed up for when he chose not to hit the eject button two trade deadlines ago.

Plus, Ye Olde Swede has been pretty good, too.

Davidson has known since the moment he took the job that the team ultimately would have to choose between Shesterkin and Georgiev, and on probably more of an accelerated basis than optimal. But unless the decision-makers are surprised by how well Shesterkin has played in the AHL (and that’s not likely), this was always going to be a matter of time.

And the time is just about now. The Rangers need information on Shesterkin, who will turn 24 on Dec. 30. Once management accumulates it, other decisions will inevitably follow. But first things, first.

And that means getting Shesterkin into New York.

Here is Player A, elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame largely because of the intangibles and unique checking ability he brought to three Stanley Cup winners:

GP | G | A | PTS

Regular season: 1,318 | 260 | 403 | 663

Playoffs: 231 | 38 | 55 |93

Here is Player B, whose unique temperament and ability to elevate his game in the postseason earned him a Conn Smythe Trophy and four Stanley Cup championship rings:

GP | G | A | PTS

Regular season: 1,215 | 379 | 407 | 786

Playoffs: 234 80 78 158

Player A, of course, is Guy Carbonneau, who will be inducted into the HHOF on Monday.

Player B is Claude Lemieux.

The two players whose omissions from the Hall most baffle me are Kevin Lowe and Doug Wilson. Do. Not. Get. It.

The two wrongs need to be righted when the super-triple secret selection committee meets next June.

Rhetorical question: How can it be that every time I look up, Blake Coleman is scoring a remarkable goal, but he has just four goals on the season?

Real question: What would it take from the Rangers to get Coleman, 27 and eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after next season, in a trade?

So here is one way to measure the Maple Leafs’ season. Through Friday, Toronto had won 9 of its 21 games. The Rangers had won 8 of 17.

Probably not what Brendan Shanahan was envisioning.

Oh, and how about this: There are six forwards who have not scored a five-on-five goal while skating for at least 225:00 at full strength, and Mitch Marner is one of them.

The other five: Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Joe Thornton, Cam Atkinson and Nick Foligno.

Among the 21 with one full-strength goal: Phil Kessel, Pavel Buchnevich, Zach Parise, Ryan O’Reilly, Bo Horvat, Nicklas Backstrom, Derek Stepan and Joe Pavelski.

And of the 37 with two: Sidney Crosby, Taylor Hall, Aleksander Barkov and Johnny Gaudreau.

Snapshot. Elite Eight: 1. Washington, 2. St. Louis, 3. Islanders, 4. Boston, 5. Montreal, 6. Edmonton, 7. Colorado, 8. Arizona.

Did You Know … that through Friday night, the Blue Jackets had won all of three — as in, one, two, three — games in regulation?

Knew they should have re-signed Ryan Dzingel.

Hey, how about that Walk of Shame back to Pittsburgh for the Penguins after conspiring to lose two games in four nights to the Rangers and Devils?

For as long as referees refuse to call the instigator penalty, as the prime pair of Ghislain Hebert and Garrett Rank did (didn’t?) on Thursday when Colorado’s Matt Calvert raced over to take on Zack Kassian after the Edmonton winger’s wipeout hit on Nathan MacKinnon, the NHL reveals itself as a league that still promotes fighting.

Finally, Don Cherry shouldn’t let the door hit him on the way out, but who’s kidding whom here? Network sports executives on both sides of the border have tolerated and enabled xenophobic hockey analysis for years as long they believed it would juice the ratings.