The Rangers have made two trades this offseason and both were for right-hand defensemen who play the power play. So what does that tell you about Kevin Shattenkirk’s future on Broadway?

That, plus the cap fix into which management willingly leaped by signing Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba for a combined $19.654 million-plus, tells me Shattenkirk’s tenure as Blueshirt will be over by the close of the team’s second buyout window Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Friday’s signing of Pavel Buchnevich to a two-year deal for $3.25 million per season, which represents an equitable agreement for both parties, triggered the clock under which buyouts can be conducted for 48 hours beginning late Monday afternoon.

And because the Rangers are a projected $4.155 million over the cap with a 23-man shadow roster — which assumes Brendan Smith and Matt Beleskey will be in AHL Hartford; entry-level freshmen Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Adam Fox and Libor Hajek will start in New York; and yet unsigned restricted free agents Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux will play for their respective one-year, $874,125 qualifiers because they won’t have any other choice if they want to skate in the NHL this season — buying out Shattenkirk’s $6.65 million hit should be an open-and-shut case.

The move would clear $5.17 million of space for this season — which would give the Rangers a little over $1.1 million with which to maneuver, pending further transactions. Yes, the buyout of the 30-year-old defenseman, whose 2017 training camp injury has all but fatally compromised his game, would burden the club with $1.43 million in dead space for 2021-22 and 2022-23. And yes, adding dead space down the road is generally bad business for a rebuilding operation, but you know what is much, much worse business?

Trading one of your best players in order to comply with the cap while keeping a guy who probably wouldn’t dress every night and whose role would be limited when he did. That’s what.

There is, I should tell you, no evidence (admissible, anecdotal or otherwise via hearsay) to indicate the Rangers have been shopping Chris Kreider after halfheartedly dangling the winger at the draft. With the club under cap stress and therefore dealing from a place of weakness rather than strength, moving Kreider within the next few days seems an entirely unrealistic proposition.

You should also know there still has yet to be a conversation between general manager Jeff Gorton and Kreider’s representative, Matt Keator, about what it would take to get the 28-year-old under a long-term contract. Not a number has been exchanged.

I can’t quite make heads or tails of that, except that both parties at this point seem content to enter the season with Kreider a pending unrestricted free agent playing under the final year of his contract. I’m not sure I’d have taken this approach. I’d have engaged in talks well before now to get an idea of the required number to sign No. 20 to an extension, but this is the route president John Davidson and Gorton have chosen to travel.

The Blueshirts, of course, could also buy out Smith and thus clear another $2.3 million (against his AHL cap hit) for this year, but that would add another $1.45 million in dead space for ’21-22 and ’22-23. Plus, the way the Rangers are set up, the edgy winger/defenseman has more value to the team than Shattenkirk.

Buchnevich, who played just eight games on Mika Zibanejad’s line through the first 71 games before hooking up with the center for nine of the final 11 matches last season, should get first crack at playing the right to fill out the first line with No. 93 and Panarin. Sometimes these summer musings don’t translate.

(Remember how well Alexander Frolov worked out on the first line, or was that Wojtek Wolski? I forget.)

But after a year of wandering through the lineup and sometimes through his assignments, Buchnevich finished with a somewhat of a flourish, recording nine goals and 13 points over the final 17 games to finish with 21 goals, 17 assists and 38 points in 64 contests. A shooter with a career 13.9 shooting percentage, Buchnevich should thrive with world-class playmaker Panarin.

How about this as the top nine to start: Panarin-Zibanejad-Buchnevich; Kreider-Lias Andersson-Kakko; Filip Chytil-Ryan Strome-Vitali Kravtsov? That would leave a fourth line with Lemieux, Brett Howden and Jesper Fast. You could flip Chytil and Andersson, but that still begs the question: what about Vlad Namestnikov, apparently untradable at the moment even if the Rangers pick up half of his $4M obligation.

The Rangers and David Quinn will have a lot to sort out once they’re on the ice. Kravtsov might not be ready. Strome might wind up on the right if the decision is made to give both Andersson and Chytil shots at their natural center position. Hajek, coming off a shoulder injury, might need some time in Hartford even as he’s stenciled in the opening top six.

But those decisions can and will wait. The decision on buyouts cannot. If Shattenkirk is still a Ranger at 5:01 Wednesday evening, I will be very, very surprised.