Just as Cody McLeod stepped into his role as designated enforcer — um, energy guy — for the Rangers, Matt Martin apparently has stepped off his for Toronto, a healthy scratch for the fourth straight time in his team’s walkover 4-0 victory over the Blueshirts on Broadway.

The Maple Leafs, you see, get their energy from prodigies named Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, from speed throughout the lineup and from fourth-line skill players.

This shouldn’t be interpreted as a shot across McLeod’s bow. The guy has constructed an honorable 11-year NHL career by maximizing his assets in a league that has steadily devalued the value of not only pugilistic ability, but the art of physical intimidation.

But his addition to the roster as a waivers acquisition from Nashville was not only curious, but created no energy at all to a Rangers team that ironically didn’t even put up a fight in this match that was devoid of competitive spirit.

The eighth-overall Maple Leafs, off an extended lean stretch comparable to the 1997-2004 Dark Age on Broadway, are going for the Cup and they are going for it by capitalizing on the exuberance of youth. They reach into their system and find a Kasperi Kapanen — a 2014 first-round pick by Pittsburgh (22nd overall) acquired in the package coming back for Phil Kessel — or a Travis Dermott.

When the Rangers have needed reinforcements this year, for every Vinni Lettieri (now back in the AHL) and Tony DeAngelo, there’s a McLeod or an Adam Cracknell or a Peter Holland. Which only goes to reinforce the necessity of using this upcoming trade deadline as an opportunity to both move into position to acquire a franchise cornerstone and to rebuild the organizational infrastructure that has been compromised in the worthy pursuit of the Cup.

To be sure, Kapanen and Dermott are role players for the Leafs team that does have a strong core of veterans including Patrick Marleau, James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Tyler Bozak up front and a passel of B-type defensemen. And though special talents, Nylander and Marner are supporting actors behind Matthews, Toronto’s reward for both finishing with the league’s worst record in 2015-16 and then winning the draft lottery.

Even with Mike Babcock already behind the bench and the combination of Lou Lamoriello and Brendan Shanahan directing the operation from up above, the Maple Leafs’ unwind of recent history would have taken far longer with a plunge in the lottery. Just dropping to three, in fact, would likely have meant a selection of either Pierre-Luc Dubois or Jesse Puljujarvi rather than Matthews.

In the case of 2015-16, it was just as important for Toronto to be very lucky and very bad.

The NHL’s evolving lottery procedure discourages the kind of ultimate tanking that marked the previous season when Buffalo and Arizona went all-in for the right to pick Connor McDavid first overall, only to have Edmonton, at third worst, get the prize. Starting last year, the NHL began to conduct separate weighted drawings for each of the top three picks.

The Devils jumped from 5 to 1, the Flyers from 13 to 2 and the Stars from 8 to 3 while the Avalanche slid from 1 to 4 and the Canucks from 2 to 5. This year, the team that finishes with the sixth-worst record has both a 7.6 percent chance of selecting first-overall and, according to tankathon.com, a 23.4 percent chance of getting a top-three choice. You needn’t be the worst of the worst to get a shot at the best.

This isn’t a suggestion that the Rangers should tank. Off this performance and the 3-7 mark in the last 10 games, who could tell, anyway? The middle of the East is pudding-soft, so maybe the club could make a run of it by capitalizing on an infusion of youth if they do the right thing and go as all-in on a selloff as the Yankees did approaching the MLB deadline in 2016.

True, the Yankees already had Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez in the system, but trading Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran while retiring Alex Rodriguez energized and remodeled the organization.

There is no need for the Rangers to deep dive here if general manager Jeff Gorton can maximize the return for 2019 free-agent eligible Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello and for impending free agents Rick Nash and Michael Grabner.

There is, however, an unmistakable need for a reboot, made all the more evident by, of all things, the addition of McLeod for this embarrassment of a performance.