WESTERN CONFERENCE:

Detroit Red Wings vs Calgary Flames. Split their four-game regular season series. The Flames have more offensive depth than in years past, making them tougher to defend against, but their defensive game hasn't been as strong this season. The Wings have depth at all areas, with a good mix of experienced veterans and rising young talent, but could be missing some key players (Chelios, Zetterberg, Bertuzzi) to start this series. The Flames will play the Wings hard but ultimately Detroit's depth should carry them through. WINGS IN SIX.

Anaheim Ducks vs Minnesota Wild. Split their four-game regular season series, each game being low-scoring, tight checking affairs. Expect more of the same in this series. The Ducks are a physical team with a strong offensive game and possess two of the best all-round defencemen in Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. The Wild play their usual strong defensive system but have more scoring depth this season, led by Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik. Ultimately, this series could come down to goaltending, where the Wild's netminders had better regular season stats than the Ducks. WILD IN SEVEN.

Vancouver Canucks vs Dallas Stars. Split their four game regular season series, with each game ending in 2-1 scores. These are two teams that have strong goaltending and plenty of blueline depth, but lack offensive punch, as both clubs are the two lowest scoring teams in the Conference to make the playoffs. Expect this series to be a reflection of their regular season tilts. As with the Ducks and Wild, this could come down to the goaltending. Dallas' Marty Turco has playoff experience but none of it good, whilst this is Vancouver's Roberto Luongo's first post-season appearance. Luongo may not feel as much pressure to prove himself as Turco and that could make the difference. CANUCKS IN SIX.

Nashville Predators vs San Jose Sharks. The Preds won three of four during the regular season series. Nashville comes into this series with considerable depth in talent, most notably with experienced leaders like Peter Forsberg, Jason Arnott and Paul Kariya. However, they struggled down the stretch, which cost them locking up first overall in the Conference. The Sharks didn't have as strong a season as anticipated but did play well done the stretch, powered by star forward Joe Thornton. Still, there's concern about their offensive depth beyond the Thornton line, and if the other Sharks forward fail to step up if the top line is shut down, they could be in trouble. PREDATORS IN SIX.

EASTERN CONFERENCE.

Buffalo Sabres vs. New York Islanders. The Sabres won three of four in the regular season series. The Isles go into this series on an emotional high after qualifying in a shootout in the final game of the season, but one wonders how they'll fare without star goalie Rick DiPietro. They're facing an offensive powerhouse in the Sabres, the NHL's top team as well as one of its fastest teams, who'll be further bolstered by the return of injured players like Tim Connolly. The Isles will give it a good go but lack the depth to pull off an upset. SABRES IN FIVE.

New Jersey Devils vs Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts took three of four in the regular season. This will be a battle between the Devils defence, led by goalie Martin Brodeur, and the Lightning's offence, led by Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Brodeur is capable of stealing a series by himself, while the Lightning's goaltending is shaky and their defence average at best. The Devils top forwards haven't been as strong as last season but are opportunistic, which could prove a problem for the Bolts. The Devils defence will have their hands full containing Lecavalier and company, but in the end Brodeur could make the difference. DEVILS IN SIX.

Atlanta Thrashers vs New York Rangers. The Thrashers won three of four in the regular season series. The Thrashers possess a lethal offence powered by Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa, and were bolstered down the stretch by the acquisition of Keith Tkachuk, but there's not much depth beyond them. The Rangers were red hot down the stretch, and have more offensive depth led by Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. The bluelines of both teams are average at best, so it'll be up to their respective goaltenders to carry the day defensively. Ultimately, the Rangers experience could be the determining factor in this one. RANGERS IN FIVE.

Ottawa Senators vs Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins took three of four game in the regular season series. This one could be the marquee matchup of the first round, with considerable potential to be nasty given some of the verbal sparring between the two teams. The Penguins are a predominantly young team with an average at best defensive game, whilst the Sens have experience and defensive depth on their side. However, the Pens, led by wunderkind Sidney Crosby, are also an energetic bunch that never quits regardless of the score, whilst the Senators are still haunted by the "playoff choke" tag. Although defence usually wins playoff games, the Pens exuberance and offensive talent could push them over the top. PENGUINS IN SIX.

In the comments thread of my recent post, “Crosby for MVP”, one reader posted the suggestion that there was Eastern bias toward the Western Conference.

“Schedules, TV coverage, reporting, and yes, even balloting is strongly eastern biased, and traditionally has been so for some time.”

I briefly responded to those comments later in the thread but felt it was a topic worth pursuing further.

This isn’t the first time I’ve read and heard of supposed bias against the NHL’s Western Conference from hockey fans, but a closer examination of the facts suggests otherwise.

First, scheduling in terms of travel is considerably tougher for Western teams, but that’s the result of geography. All the Eastern Conference teams are within one time zone and in many cases a quick one or two hour plane trip apart.

In the West, however, the teams are spread further apart and between four time zones (eastern,central, mountain and pacific). It’s unfortunate, but not the result of any bias against them (hat tip to Paul Kukla and Barbara Stephenson for reminding me that Detroit and Columbus are in the Eastern time zone).

TV coverage is also the result of geography. With all the Eastern teams within one time zone, they’re going to get a favorable TV schedule. Unfortunately for Western teams, those time zones work against them, resulting in their games being televised much later in the East and thus a perceived lack of coverage/interest.

To counter this, Western games could start earlier, but that would be unfair to those teams and their fans. The travel schedule in particular for Western teams is tough enough without taking away some valuable rest time to an earlier start.

There is obviously more favorable coverage of the Eastern teams than the Western clubs, which again is unfortunate and again due to geography and time zones, not bias.

Geography and time zones have nothing to do with balloting, but as I noted in response to this comment, the winners of the recent NHL awards clearly indicates no bias against Western players.

“The professional hockey writers association votes for the Hart, Norris, Calder and Selke trophies. The GMs vote for the Vezina winner, and the NHL Broadcasters Association votes for the Adams winner. I fail to see where bias enters into it.

Four of the last six Hart winners were from the West, as were three of the last seven Calder Winners, three of the last six Adams winners, five of the last 8 Selke winners, and 7 of the last 8 Norris winners.

Since the GMs select the Vezina winners, and there can be no suggestion of too many GMs in the East, then obviously a number of Western GMs believed only two Western goalies of the last 13 Vezina winners were worthy of the award."

So much for “bias” against the Western Conference.