Once again, and by design rather than mere happenstance, one of the NHL’s top teams is guaranteed to be knocked out during the first round of the playoffs, while a lesser club is ensured of advancing. What kind of a league is it that perpetuates this manifest injustice?

Well, it’s the one that does whatever it can whenever it can to promote across-the-board mediocrity under the guise of parity and the one that finds ways to penalize the best organizations through cap restrictions, punitive expansion-draft-protection policies and a broken divisional playoff bracket system the league (and the NHLPA, its co-conspirator in this instance) has no current intention of fixing.

Freezing the standings, the Bruins and Maple Leafs, who currently hold the second- and third-best records in the Eastern Conference behind the Lightning, would meet in the first round. Barring the Lightning becoming the NHL equivalent of the Virginia Cavaliers by losing to the eighth-seeded wild card, the Boston-Toronto winner would meet Tampa Bay in the second round. Thus, two of the best three teams in the East would be gone before the conference finals.

Meanwhile, the East also will present opening-round, four-seven (Washington-Columbus) and five-six (Pittsburgh-Philadelphia) matchups that will usher an inferior team advancing to the conference finals.

The Western Conference will present an opening round three-four (Winnipeg-Minnesota) and five-six (San Jose-Los Angeles). Immediately a better team will be kayoed while a lesser one advances.

These aren’t anomalies. This has become the norm in the format that is in its fifth year after replacing the far more equitable conference 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 opening round matchups with round-by-round re-seeds. Indeed, two-three seeds met three times the first four years with three-four seeds meeting three times and five-six seeds meeting four times.

The NHL does everything it can to create the illusion that any team can win the Stanley Cup. Anything to elevate the mediocre at the expense of excellence. This bracket system takes the objective one step further. Maybe participation trophies are next.

The Candy Canes of Raleigh, N.C., have been a dysfunctional operation for years, out of the playoffs going on a ninth straight year. So why the almost universal outrage over new owner Tom Dundon’s decision to move Ron Francis out of the general manager’s decision-making chair?

The Hurricanes represent a southern fried version of the Islanders, a collector of high draft picks always on the verge of turning the future into the present, but somehow managing to fall short. Francis had been on the job for only four seasons after replacing Gentleman Jim Rutherford, so it is obviously not all on the Hall of Fame center.

But the same-old, same-old hasn’t worked at all. Francis had been on the job for only a couple of months prior to the 2014 entry draft, so maybe you can’t pin it on him that the club selected defenseman Haydn Fleury seventh overall, one slot ahead of the Maple Leafs selecting William Nylander and two spots ahead of the Jets selecting Nikolaj Ehlers. But what about 2015, when Carolina selected defenseman Jake Bean one spot before Boston picked Charlie McAvoy?

There is a new wave of ownership coming in the NHL that will likely engulf some of the old guard. And at Carolina, why not?

I’m sorry, but I cannot conceive of a reason John Tavares would sign as a free agent with the Rangers. Even if No. 91 can be inscrutable, everyone agrees loyalty is one of the Islanders captain’s fundamental bedrocks.

So he is going to leave the perpetually building Islanders, where he can sign for eight years, to come to the rebuilding Rangers, where he could only sign for seven years?

Why?

There is obviously benefit attached to Rangers youngsters such as Neal Pionk and John Gilmour getting experience and playing well down the stretch, but it is folly to believe that teams out of the playoffs which finish strongly are establishing winning cultures for the following season.

If so, please explain the Islanders, who won their final six games last year.

So, continuing this conversation about Brad Park’s worthiness to have his number retired at the Garden. A reader suggested that Pat LaFontaine fit the profile of a player who essentially had split his prime between two teams and thus was another man without a country.

But LaFontaine’s No. 16 is retired in Buffalo, even though he played only 268 games (and two seasons in which he played at least 60 matches) for the Sabres after playing 530 for the Islanders.

Hence, if LaFontaine’s number could go up in Buffalo after a 268-game career, then Park’s 485 games with the Rangers should not be an impediment to his No. 2 being honored in New York.

If the Bruins don’t want to claim Park after his 501 games wearing the spoked-B, well, that’s their loss.

We refer to shooting percentage by calculating the number of goals scored against shots on net. But wouldn’t a more accurate picture be rendered by creating a “scoring percentage” by calculating goals against unblocked attempts?

For instance, where Patrik Laine owns a 19.34 shooting percentage (41/212), his scoring percentage would be 13.31 (41/308). Evgeni Malkin, who has a 19.05 shooting percentage (40/210), has a 15.15 scoring percentage (40/264), all stats provided by our friends at naturalstattrick.com.

Need to know: which of the R. Nash’s (Rick Nash and Riley Nash) in the Boston room goes by, “Nasher?” and what about the other guy?

Finally, Jake Arrieta wrote a thank-you note to the Cubs and Cubs fans after the free-agent pitcher signed with the Phillies.

This fellow’s penmanship is so good, Glen Sather could have hired him to coach the Rangers.