Twenty-nine points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers during the regular season, and led by stars such as Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan and Henrik Zetterberg, the Detroit Red Wings captured the President’s trophy as the NHL’s best regular season club and coasted to the No. 1 seed in the West.

The Oilers battled tooth and nail the entire season and finally clinched their spot in the post-season tournament in their second-to-last game of the season. Heading into the playoffs, many people were calling the Wings to sweep the Oilers.

So on Monday night, when the Oilers eliminated the Red Wings in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, many people on the continent were shocked at this huge upset. Or was it a huge upset?

The 124 points and the star-studded lineup is quite compelling for the Red Wings, but on closer examination, perhaps there was reason to pick a much closer series or even an Edmonton victory.

The Detroit Red Wings played in, arguably, the worst division in hockey. With the unbalanced NHL schedule, the Wings had the opportunity to play the three worst teams in the Western Conference eight times each. These 24 games undoubtedly bloated the Red Wings point total.

Consider the tough Northwest Division that the Edmonton Oilers played in. The worst team in the division was the Minnesota Wild with a total of 84 points -- good for 11th in the 15-team West. Thirty two of the Oilers games were against very good division rivals, perhaps skewing their point total, giving many fans the impression that they were a mediocre club.

A look at the Detroit roster shows 37-year-old Brendan Shanahan, 35-year-old Robert Lang, 36-year-old Mathieu Schneider, 40-year-old Steve Yzerman and 44-year-old Chris Chelios. In the "new" NHL where speed and skill is supposed to be the difference, the Wings' may not have positioned themselves very well with their elder statesmen. The Wings do have youth and speed in Datsyuk and Zetterberg, but 25% of the roster is over 35 years of age.

The Oilers featured many youngsters -- perhaps too many. With the likes of Ales Hemsky, Jarret Stoll, Raffi Torres and Shawn Horcoff providing much of the Oilers offense, the question was more one of experience -- speed they had.

As the series developed, the Edmonton Oilers surprised many people and looked very good. The Wings did not dominate and embarrass the Oilers like a first-place team should do to a No. 8 seed. The Oilers hung in with the Wings and were winning games.

With 1:06 to go in game 6, deadline acquisition Sergei Samsonov set up youngster Hemsky with a brilliant pass to score the game winner. The Oilers had beaten the mighty Red Wings and advanced to the second round for the first time since 1998. The Red Wings had another disappointing early playoff exit.

The architect of this "upset" is the man in the GM chair of the Edmonton Oilers, Kevin Lowe. Lowe began his "renovations" of the Oilers nine months ago when he, ironically, acquired Chris Pronger from the St. Louis Blues, as the Blues wanted to shed some salary. Lowe then sent underachieving Mike York to the New York Islanders for defensive specialist Mike Peca. The transformation had begun.

Close to the trading deadline, Lowe made a deal that flew under many people's radar. He picked up Jaroslav Spacek from the Chicago Blackhawks. After the solidifying the defense with the Spacek deal, Lowe then added goaltender Dwayne Roloson from Minnesota and sniper Sergei Samsonov from the Boston Bruins. These three pieces would prove instrumental in the Oilers victory over the Wings.

Roloson looked shaky in his first half-dozen games as an Oiler. Perhaps it was the rust of sitting on the bench in Minnesota for most of the year. But, by the end of the regular season, "Roli" began to look like the goalie that had finished in the top three of every major goaltending statistic during the '03-'04 season.

Is this the biggest upset of the year? I don't think so. This is, at long last, the formal recognition of the excellent hockey team that has been built in the Alberta capital.

Will the Oilers continue their playoff run? Don’t bet against it.