The devil is in the details, and the time for decisions is drawing closer.

After non-stop offseason action for most of the past month, the Rangers are once again on the verge of having to make difficult choices for how they manage the salary-cap crunch that — remember — is a good thing in the midst of their accelerated rebuilding. The impetus is Monday’s arbitration hearing for restricted free agent winger Pavel Buchnevich.

The 24-year-old Russian, who has shown signs — albeit inconsistently — of being a capable offensive player, likely would be awarded a one-year deal in the $3 million range. With the Blueshirts already into the 10% summer allowance above the $81.5 million salary cap, that would create the need for some big cuts.

But if the club doesn’t trade Buchnevich’s rights before then, and the two sides come to an agreement either on their own or an arbitrator delivers an award, three days from that date opens a 48-hour window during which they could execute a contract buyout. So let us say Buchnevich is the first Ranger to reach an arbitration hearing since Nikolai Zherdev in 2009 and a deal is awarded on Monday, then the team could buy out the contract(s) of Kevin Shattenkirk and/or Brendan Smith on Thursday or Friday.

Buying out the remaining two years on either of those deals would create dead cap space for the next four years. But immediate relief would come this season.

There also could be immediate relief if general manager Jeff Gorton can find a suitable trade return for power forward Chris Kreider, who is entering his final year of a deal that carries a $4.625 million hit. Kreider, 28, has been a team leader and a noble Ranger, but cuts need to come from somewhere. With his market value on an extension far exceeding what Gorton is willing to pay at this juncture — somewhere around seven years for $7 million per — talks have stalled and a trade seems inevitable.

The Rangers can carry the summer cap overage until just before the start of the regular season on Oct. 3. But it surely would be an unwanted distraction if Kreider was in training camp answering questions about his future every day. The same could be said on a lesser level with Vlad Namestnikov (one year, $4 million) or Ryan Strome (one year, $3.1 million).

And that is mostly because the Rangers have parlayed some deft managing by Gorton and some fortunate breaks from key players wanting to come to New York into a rebuild that went faster than almost anyone thought.

By stockpiling picks, Gorton was able to obtain defenseman Jacob Trouba from the Jets in June, later signing the 25-year-old righty-shot to a seven-year deal worth $8 million per. Gorton also was able to pry the rights to Harvard defenseman Adam Fox from the Hurricanes, adding another righty-shot into the mix — therefore marginalizing a possible role for Shattenkirk. Gorton was able to take advantage of Trouba and Fox not wanting to sign with their respective teams.

Just as it was advantageous when the prize of the free-agent market, winger Artemi Panarin, took less money to sign his seven-year, $81.5 million blockbuster deal with the Blueshirts.

But it won’t be easy for coach David Quinn, whose roster will be very young and will look a bit different than it does right now. After a small breath in what has been a monumental summer for the Rangers, very soon Gorton will be forced to make decisions that will shape not just this coming season but the near-future of the organization.