Having a low seed in a tournament is usually a big deal.

If you foresaw that No. 5 seed… Having a low seed in a tournament is usually a big deal.

If you foresaw that No. 5 seed Butler would end up in Indianapolis, congratulations. A run like the Bulldogs’ 25-game win streak doesn’t happen very often. Who would have thought they’d be a Gordon Hayward buzzer-beater away from winning it all?

And I’ll admit I became Canadian for a short time in 2006 when the No. 8 seed Edmonton Oilers made the Stanley Cup Finals. I remember I was the only one in my group of friends that had them winning even one round.

Low seeds are supposed to be underdogs, Cinderellas and shockers. But if the “underdog” Detroit Red Wings show up in six weeks on NBC playing for their 12th Stanley Cup, I won’t be surprised in the least.

In the Western Conference, the Red Wings finished in the middle of the playoff pack, entering Sunday with a respectable 43-24-14 record.

That record, though, sounds a little more impressive when you consider the Red Wings were 27-21-12 and on the playoff bubble on Feb. 11. The Associated Press’ recap of their loss to San Jose that night said, “It’s possible the two teams could meet in the first round of the playoffs with the Sharks as the No. 1 seed and the Red Wings No. 8.”

And then Detroit won 16 of 21 and, at one point, threatened the Chicago Blackhawks for the Central Division title. So much for just a No. 8 seed. The team had a 10-0-2 streak snapped by Philadelphia last week.

Much of the praise for the turnaround has been heaped on 26-year-old rookie goaltender Jimmy Howard, who took the starting job from Stanley Cup-winner Chris Osgood in January. At one point, Howard started 25 straight games.

His name has been tossed around for the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year, and ESPN’s Scott Burnside wrote that his name should be thrown into the Vezina trophy and MVP mix as well. That’s going a little too far — Tyler Myers and Ryan Miller again get my votes for those — but it shows Howard is a playoff series away from getting the “savior” treatment.

It’s not just him, though. Detroit’s turnaround, for all the praise Howard has received, also coincides with the team getting healthy (big surprise, I know). Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula, Jason Williams and Andreas Lilja all sat out at least 10 games because of injury.

Franzen, who scored 12 goals last postseason, missed four months with a torn ACL. But he’s back and already racking up the goals — 10 in 26 games.

Of course, nobody expected a team with Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom to struggle in the first place, and it doesn’t hurt that these players are starting to play like the Xbox versions of themselves again. Now that Detroit’s winning, I forget how they ever struggled.

I won’t guarantee a return to the Finals for the Red Wings — on some nights it looks like Vancouver’s Sedin twins are playing the Washington Generals — but they are the favorite in the West right now. Chicago has goaltending issues and San Jose usually pulls a Bill Buckner in the postseason.

And if the Red Wings take the West again this year, we’re halfway to another Detroit-Pittsburgh Final. The NHL pulled in big ratings with the first two matchups, and the league, as elegant as a Phoenix-New Jersey Final sounds, would love another Sidney Crosby-Detroit showdown.

So what are the Penguins’ chances?

Well, Pittsburgh needs to figure out how to beat Washington and New Jersey. The Penguins went 0-8-2 against the Devils and Capitals this year.

They don’t have to worry about that right away, though. They face Ottawa in the first round, which doesn’t have its typical firepower. Dany Heatley is in San Jose now, and Alexei Kovalev is out for the year with a knee injury. As far as playoff opponents go, it’s a good draw for the Penguins.

Then, who knows, maybe some Cinderella comes along and knocks off the Devils. Before you know it, we’re looking at another Capitals-Penguins conference-finals showdown. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury against Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Semin. All that good stuff. Six or seven games later, maybe we are treated to another Red Wings-Penguins Final.

Though Ovechkin against Detroit would be fun to watch, too.