Yeah it's retarded.
Teams always get lucky/unlucky and slide up and down the standings. Sometime the #2 seed by true talent should probably be in the #4 vs #5 matchup, for example. But this year in the Eastern Conference the NHL will have the #7 team in the points standings facing #6. And one of those teams might not be playoff calibre by true talent (Ottawa), and if it's OTT-TOR they are arguably the 7th and 8th best teams by talent, facing off in the first round.
Gross!