Series key: Dwayne Roloson
It comes down to this: Can the Oilers stop the league’s top power play in a series that is going to come down to special teams? Roloson is going to have a huge say in that, and he’s going to have to be a star. Chris Pronger’s a big factor here as well. The Red Wings have shown few weaknesses all season, but they have struggled somewhat when playing the Oilers. Still, with the playoffs comes a raised intensity level, and Edmonton’s going to need a whole lot more from players like Mike Peca than they got during the season.It’ll be a fascinating series.

Mirtle also has the Wings advancing to the second round, just to lose to Anaheim. Personally, I don’t think Babcock would allow a playoff series loss to his old team.

Tom Benjamin @ NHL Weblog
I’m liking the way Tom thinks: Detroit in 4. A nice sweet sweep over the Oilers.

Detroit-Edmonton - Steve Yzerman (again) or Cal Nichols and Kevin Lowe (ever)? Can anyone stand the Edmonton hockey media at the best of times? How will they be if the Oilers actually do something? Not only do I want the Red Wings to sweep, I want them to lead every minute of every game. I don’t want the Oilers to score a single goal or even threaten to score a single goal.

Tom gets a lot of readers’ comments on all of his posts. Out of the four readers who left comments, they all picked Detroit to win in 5.

John Buccigross @ ESPN.com
John goes with the norm and picks Detroit over Edmonton. How many games does he think it’ll take? Five.

No. 1 Detroit vs. No. 8 Edmonton: I wrote this back in October after seeing the Red Wings play the Blue Jackets in Columbus:”You can put the Wings back among the Western Conference elite. In fact, from what I’ve seen and considering their experience, I put the Wings as the favorite in the West. I think the Wings could get to the Stanley Cup with Manny Legace or whoever else in net.”

I still believe this. Unless Pavel Datsyuk can’t play. I’m sure he will at some point. But hold off on the long-term Wings wins until we see Datsyuk back at 100 percent. Still, this series should be manageable.

John also commented about some end-of-the-year NHL awards. What Wings players or staff made the list? Along with New Jersey and Carolina’s coach, he named Mike Babcock as a candidate for the Jack Adams Trophy.

There were many outstanding coaching performances this season. In fact, one could argue that the depth of quality NHL coaching has never been better. Hence, the tight races down the stretch. But it’s truly amazing how Babcock elevated the play of so many players after he stepped into the culture of Detroit, with its heavy air of tradition and recent habits.

As many bloggers and analysist have been predicting, Nick Lidstrom looks like the winner for the Norris Trophy: “For 28 minutes a night, nearly every slap shot on goal, outlet pass, power-play goal and regal air — Lidstrom is simply the best.”

David Johnson @ HockeyAnalysis.com
David comments on all the Western Conference matchups including the Wings vs. Oilers series. He picked Detroit in 6.

These two teams matched up fairly well during the regular season with both teams wining 2 games and 3 of the games going to overtime. If that sort of thing happens in the playoffs we are in for a dandy of a series despite being 1st seed vs 8th seed. The key to the series for Edmonton is getting quality goaltending from deadline pickup Dwayne Roloson. Edmonton has very solid defence and enough offence to compete with most teams so it will be up to Roloson not to give any games away. Detroit is such a well balanced team it is hard to pinpoint any one aspect that we should focus on as a key to success but having Zetterberg continue his scoring ways in his first playoff as a first liner will be important for them.

Tom L @ Sabre Rattling
For playoff round #1, Tom picked Detroit to win the series in 6.

Detroit (1) vs. Edmonton (8)Analysis: Detroit is not the powerhouse their record suggests. 25 wins in their division is almost damning with faint praise. That said, if Edmonton had actually played well coming down the stretch I would pick them to upset the Wings in 6, but, they didn’t and ex-Sabre Roloson will not be the difference maker (psst… K-Lo, Marty Biron was your answer). The Oilers blueline is world-class but their offence and team-unity aren’t. There’s an upset in here somewhere, I’m just not sure I can find it. I’m rooting for the Oil just not hopeful.

Tom later went on to say that the Wings defeat Anaheim in the second round, but lose out to San Jose in the third.

The Puck Stops Here
The blog, The Puck Stops Here, has chosen Detroit over Edmonton in this first round matchup.

Detroit was one of the better teams in the NHL this year. Edmonton backed into a playoff spot when Vancouver imploded. Detroit has Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Schneider who all had better seasons then any Edmonton Oiler this year.

ColbyCash.com
According to Colby’s spreadsheet, the Wings have a 67.1% chance of making it to the second round. Detroit also has a 21.8% probability of making it to the finals, higher than any other team on the spreadsheet.

Shawn P. Roarke @ NHL.com
Roarke picked three game breakers from each team in the Wings vs. Oilers series. Pavel Datsyuk, Nick Lidstrom, and Tomas Holmstrom make up the Detroit list while Ryan Smyth, Chris Pronger, and Dwayne Roloson form Edmonton’s list. He also has a “Crystal Ball”…

Detroit Will Win if: It can keep this series short. The Red Wings must start out fast at home and put Edmonton immediately behind the 8-ball. Not only would the Red Wings love the extra rest that will come from dispatching the Oilers in four or five games, but they want to avoid any chance of Edmonton getting its confidence up and entertaining notions of pushing this series to a sixth or seventh game. Detroit must also find ways to get on the power play, where its devastating wave of man-advantage specialists — who have combined to give Detroit a League-leading conversion rate of 22 percent –can wreak appropriate havoc against the Oilers penalty killers and wear down players like Pronger.

Edmonton Will Win if: Roloson stands on his head. Usually, upsets in the first round can be traced back to clear dominance in the goaltending department. Nobody is convinced yet that Detroit’s Manny Legace is a proven playoff performer, After all, he has only 230 minutes of playoff experience and just two wins. So, if Roloson can continue his recent stellar form, and the Edmonton attack can rattle Legace, the Oilers could find themselves extending this series into the sixth and seventh games, where history has proven that anything can happen. Also, Edmonton will have to play the body at every turn, hoping to wear down Detroit’s older players, as well as slow down some of the team’s walking wounded.

Mike @ Covered in Oil
Before Mike made his predictions, he had this to say: “In this spirit, I think the key for picking first round winners is to just go a little batshit and pick 2-3 unforeseen upsets. Why not? Not counting Detroit (lord help us), the biggest difference between the top and bottom seeds is anywhere between 1-10 additional wins.”

DETROIT (1) versus EDMONTON (8)
Mike looks skyward, whistles: uh… Edmonton in 7?Do I even believe this? Maybe. If someone takes out Lidstrom’s knee or cross-checks him in the face, Cory Cross becomes their 5th D, so think about that. The Wings are as disciplined and well-positioned team as any in hockey, but I do think there’s some individual weaknesses in their defence corps (some are old, too young, too slow and most of them can’t score). The Oil are likely to play like they usually do in the playoffs, which is a simple game based on an aggressive two-forwards deep forecheck with lots of hitting. It could payoff and turn their game around, especially if Roloson plays above .900.

Off Wing Playoff Contest
Eric @ Off Wing Opinion is hosting a 2006 NHL Playoff Contest. Whoever picks the Stanley Cup champ (and if there is more than one person who made that pick, a random person will be selected) will have $100 donated to a charity of their choice!With 42 submissions in as of early Thursday morning (April 20th @ 12:30am), Detroit leads the pack with 7 votes followed by Dallas (5) and Calgary, New Jersey, and San Jose (4).