Presidents' Trophy
Established	1985–86 NHL season
Current holder(s)	San Jose Sharks
Awarded to the	National Hockey League team with the most points in the regular season

The Presidents' Trophy is an award presented by the National Hockey League (NHL) to the team that finishes with the most points in the league during the regular season. If two teams tie for the most points, then the trophy goes to the team with the most wins. The winning team is also awarded $350,000 in cash bonuses. The Presidents' Trophy has been awarded 23 times to 13 different teams since the first was awarded in 1985.^[1]

The most recent recipients of the trophy are the San Jose Sharks, who finished the 2008–09 season with 53 wins and 117 points, winning their first ever Presidents' Trophy.^[2]

[edit] History

The trophy was introduced at the start of the 1985–86 NHL season by the league's Board of Governors. Prior to this, the best team in the league during the regular season was allowed to hang a banner stating "NHL League Champions".^[3]

From 1937 to 1968, the same criterion now observed for winning the Presidents' Trophy was used to award the Prince of Wales Trophy.^[4] With the Modern Era expansion in the 1967–68 season and the creation of the West Division, the Wales Trophy was awarded to the team that finished in first place in the East Division during the regular season.^[4] However, no trophy was awarded to the team that finished with the best overall record in the entire league during this period, and no trophy at all was awarded based on the results of the regular season from the 1981–82 season through the 1984–85 season. A cash bonus was given to each player on the team with the league's best regular-season record during these years, to which the Presidents' Trophy was added in 1985–86.^[1]

The only team to have won the Presidents' Trophy more than twice is the Detroit Red Wings, with six.

The Montreal Canadiens have finished first overall 21 times, the most times in league history, although this was most recently accomplished in 1977-78, and have never won the trophy. Detroit is second with 18 first-overall finishes.^[5]

[edit] Playoffs

The Presidents' Trophy winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs^[6], provided the team advances that far, so it remains one of the best predictors of the eventual Stanley Cup winners. However, only seven of all the Presidents' Trophy winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup in their respective years.^[7]

Some have alleged that there is a "Presidents' Trophy curse", as first-round upsets are noted to be common in the NHL compared to other major professional sports leagues.^[8] However, there are other reasons why regular season champions often perform poorly in the postseason. The lack of playoff experience may have been to blame in the examples of the 1999-2000 St. Louis Blues and 2008-09 San Jose Sharks, as neither team has advanced past the second round for five or more seasons. Teams have often given up pursuit of finishing first in the league in order avoid injuries and rest key players for the postseason. One instance was the New York Islanders, upset in the 1978-79 postseason, whose head coach Al Arbour decided for 1979-1980 that he would no longer place as much emphasis on the regular season, instead focusing his players' efforts on the playoffs. ^[9]

[edit] Winners

Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings has been part of the team's six Presidents' Trophy wins.

Chris Drury played for the 2000–01 Colorado Avalanche and the 2006–07 Buffalo Sabres.

     * Team won the Stanley Cup.      ^ Team lost in the Stanley Cup finals.      # Team lost in the first round of the playoffs.^[10]

[edit] References