Well, I'm looking at the 'Zaan in my pocket right now, and the lanyard is definitely not tied around a spacer, like on my Inkosi. It's a lanyard pin and the lanyard goes though it. So yeah, you could cut it and take it off without taking the knife apart. Or undo the knotting (unless there is adhesive in there). I think this is why CRK sells a backspacer kit to replace the lanyard pin - so you can remove the lanyard pin and lanyard intact - which helps if you want to sell it later.
And OP - they are not hard to take apart/put back together.