Spread 'Em: Handicapping the First Round of the 2011 NHL Playoffs: West

Welcome back to Spread 'Em for Part 2 of the NHL First Round preview.  Here I'll take a look at the Western Conference and try and narrow down an upset or two to look out for.

The West's top seed is the Vancouver Canucks.  They took home the President's Trophy given to the top point getter in the league.  They have been on top of the Western Conference for most of the season and have been touted as the top team in the league.  Unfortunately for them they drew the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.  

The Hawks have been on a bit of a Stanley Cup hangover and had to wait until Dallas failed to win last night in order to make it into the field.  The Blackhawks are a very dangerous eight seed and could easily win this series.  They'll have to get through all-world goaltender Roberto Luongo and the Sedin brothers, who finished the season as two of the top four scorers in the league.  They split the season series 2-2 but I don't think the defending champs go down without a fight.  Huge upset here as I like the Blackhawks to advance.

In our next match-up the San Jose Sharks take on their cross-state rival Los Angeles Kings.  The Sharks are perennial under-achievers and fail to get the job done in the playoffs.  The Kings are young and hungry, led by their 26-year old captain, Dustin Brown.  Until the Sharks can deliver in the playoffs, I will continue to pick against them.  In another upset, give me the Kings.

The third seeded Detroit Red Wings are coming into the playoffs a bit under the radar.  They are always in the hunt for the Stanley Cup and seem to be a boring choice amongst the experts.  They may have others fooled but they can't fool me.  They get a favorable first round series against the Phoenix Coyotes, who among other problems, may be relocated to Canada in the very near future.  Even though these two teams split their 4 games in the regular season, the Red Wings, led by their workhorse between the pipes Jimmy Howard, will take care of business as usual and easily move on to the second round.

The final match-up out West is between the Anaheim Ducks and the Nashville Predators....Yawn. Wake me up when this one is over.  Not even sure how Nashville is in the Western Conference but I digress.  In all seriousness the Ducks have a great story with 40-year old Teemu Selanne finishing second on the team in points behind Hart Trophy (League MVP) favorite Corey Perry.  Selanne finished (no pun intended) with 80 points in just 73 games.  His skills don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.  I like the Ducks in this one.

The Picks:

Chicago Blackhawks +180

Los Angeles Kings +210

Detroit Red Wings -200

Anaheim Ducks -150

Check back before Round 2 where I will handicap all the action and lookout for my NBA Playoff Previews later this week.