Tim Benz: Sorry, Penguins fans. A 2020 NHL relaunch was never going to be perfect.

Let’s get this out of the way right now, Penguins fans.

From everything we are hearing about the return-to-play format for the NHL, it does put the screws to your favorite team. It may result in the Pens being eliminated during a play-in round. This despite finishing the pre-pandemic regular season in a Metropolitan Division automatic-qualifier spot.

Now is the part where we have to flash back to mid-March and remember how so many of us said, “There won’t be a perfect road map to reboot from the coronavirus shutdown.” We all knew someone along the line was going to get a raw deal.

That’s just too bad. We all understood whatever system was invented to get the league out of this mess was going to be unfair in some way to some teams.

Well, at least, I was saying that.

Now it appears that the local club in Black and Gold is one of those teams. So we can either complain about it or just be happy hockey may be on the path back at some point this summer.

Your choice.

Come to think of it, those two things aren’t mutually exclusive, are they? Actually, we can do both!

So let’s do the complaining part first. Then move onto the whole “sucking it up for the greater good” angle.

As of Memorial Day weekend, the NHL and the players’ association appeared to be moving forward with a plan to get teams back to competition this summer.

In order to do so, 24 teams would be part of the restart. The bottom seven clubs won’t return.

The top four teams (based on points percentage) from each conference — regardless of division — would get byes through the first round of the playoffs. They would play a mini round-robin among themselves. That means the top four from the Eastern Conference would play each other once, as would the top four from the Western Conference.

Presumably, these would be glorified exhibition games just to get in shape while the other playoff series were starting up — unless there was some sort of reseeding, cash prize or improved draft compensation attached to the winner of each conference’s round-robin.

Meanwhile, Nos. 5 through 12 would play each other in first-round matchups. The fifth seed would get the 12th seed. The sixth would battle the 11th. Seven vs. 10. And eight against nine.

That’s how the Penguins get jobbed. They’ll have to play a first-round series as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference against the Montreal Canadiens. Even though the teams are separated by 15 points and seven spots in the standings.

Montreal also boasts seven-time All-Star goaltender and former Hart Trophy winner Carey Price.

It’s likely going to be a short series, too. These first-round contests are assumed to be best-of-five competitions. A good goalie is more likely to steal a series the shorter it is.

Granted, this has not been Price’s best year. He is 31st in save percentage at .909 among qualifying goalies. His goals against average of 2.79 is 32nd.

Keep in mind, though, Price has also faced the second-most shots in hockey in 2020. That’s part of the reason Montreal is currently the 24th team in the league and the last club to qualify. Despite that reality, Price has pitched four shutouts on the season. No other goalie has more than six (Connor Hellebuyck).

During his career, Price is 13-14-5 against the Pens. His save percentage is .907. And his goals-against average is 2.95. The Washington Capitals are the only other opponent (9-15-5/.894/3.27) in the East that have put up better numbers against him.

This year, Price is 1-1-1 against the Pens, allowing seven goals on 98 shots (.929/2.32).

The smarter way to do it — my original plan —would’ve been to automatically qualify the top three teams in each division based on points percentage. After all, that’s been the arbitrary format since 2014.

Then I would’ve had seeds seven through 10 square off for the two wild-card spots and resume the postseason as normal from there.

That strikes me as being more fair. And, honestly, the fewer teams involved, the safer this whole reboot would be in the first place.

Yet — if we are going off of points percentage as the determining factor — getting 12 teams per conference was necessary to squeeze in the Canadiens, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks. Those are three high-profile, large-market, “Original Six” franchises.

Don’t kid yourself. That’s why this is happening. If the 11th and 12th place teams in the East were Buffalo and the New Jersey Devils and if the Blackhawks were last in the West, I bet things would’ve been capped at 20 teams.

So that’s why we are doing this exercise now. Let’s get it out of our system. Complain now — and not later — if Price spins three gems in a row and sends the Penguins packing in the first week of the restarted series.

Unfair. Unjust. Impractical. Biased. Unbalanced. Describe the new system as you like, and let’s move on. But let’s do it before a result goes against the Penguins. Because once the puck drops, this is what the NHLPA and the owners agreed to do.

Nothing is perfect right now. Nothing is as it should be. In hockey. Or in life. But it’s best for everybody to just shelve the angst and deal with it if we can see an on-ice product soon.

To the credit of Penguins fans, I’ve gotten the sense this has been the attitude of most so far, agitated though they may be by this idea.

An imperfect plan is better than none at all.

Just ask Major League Baseball.