The Presidents' Trophy is an award presented by the National Hockey League to the team which finished with the best record in the entire league during the regular season. It was introduced at the start of the 1985-86 NHL season by the league's Board of Governors. The winning team is also awarded 350,000 Canadian dollars, to be shared between the team and its players. Hockey is the only one of the four "major" North American team sports that presents a formal award of this type to its top regular-season finisher, although the National Basketball Association does provide bonus money to the team that finishes best overall.

The award is regarded as the second most prestigious a hockey team can win, albeit a distant second, to the Stanley Cup. Winning the award is very difficult, perhaps even more difficult that winning the Stanley Cup, as it is a competition of thirty teams, each of which play 82 games between October and April each year. While less than half of all Presidents' Trophy winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup, it remains the most likely position to produce the cup winner, as the Presidents' Trophy winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, provided the team advances that far.

In the Original Six era, the same criteria now observed for winning the Presidents' Trophy was used to award the Prince of Wales Trophy. From 1967-68 through 1980-81, separate trophies were presented to the top regular-season finishers in each division (conference from the 1974-75 season onward) — the Prince of Wales Trophy for the first-place team in the Eastern Division (Wales Conference after 1974) and the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for the corresponding team in the Western Division (Campbell Conference after 1974). 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, the Wales and Campbell trophies having been transferred to the playoff champions of those conferences in 1981-82; 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.

President's Trophy Winners:

• 2004 Detroit Red Wings
• 2003 Ottawa Senators
• 2002 Detroit Red Wings
• 2001 Colorado Avalanche
• 2000 St. Louis Blues
• 1999 Dallas Stars
• 1998 Dallas Stars
• 1997 Colorado Avalanche
• 1996 Detroit Red Wings
• 1995 Detroit Red Wings
• 1994 New York Rangers
• 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins
• 1992 New York Rangers
• 1991 Chicago Blackhawks
• 1990 Boston Bruins
• 1989 Calgary Flames
• 1988 Calgary Flames
• 1987 Edmonton Oilers
• 1986 Edmonton Oilers

Regular Season Champions prior to 1986

• 1985 Philadelphia Flyers
• 1984 Edmonton Oilers
• 1983 Boston Bruins
• 1982 New York Islanders
• 1981 New York Islanders
• 1980 Philadelphia Flyers
• 1979 New York Islanders
• 1978 Montreal Canadiens
• 1977 Montreal Canadiens
• 1976 Montreal Canadiens
• 1975 Philadelphia Flyers
• 1974 Boston Bruins
• 1973 Montreal Canadiens
• 1972 Boston Bruins
• 1971 Boston Bruins
• 1970 Chicago Blackhawks
• 1969 Montreal Canadiens
• 1968 Montreal Canadiens
• 1967 Chicago Blackhawks
• 1966 Montreal Canadiens
• 1965 Detroit Red Wings
• 1964 Montreal Canadiens
• 1963 Toronto Maple Leafs
• 1962 Montreal Canadiens
• 1961 Montreal Canadiens
• 1960 Montreal Canadiens
• 1959 Montreal Canadiens
• 1958 Montreal Canadiens
• 1957 Detroit Red Wings
• 1956 Montreal Canadiens
• 1955 Detroit Red Wings
• 1954 Detroit Red Wings
• 1953 Detroit Red Wings
• 1952 Detroit Red Wings
• 1951 Detroit Red Wings
• 1950 Detroit Red Wings
• 1949 Detroit Red Wings
• 1948 Toronto Maple Leafs
• 1947 Montreal Canadiens
• 1946 Montreal Canadiens
• 1945 Montreal Canadiens
• 1944 Montreal Canadiens
• 1943 Detroit Red Wings
• 1942 New York Rangers
• 1941 Boston Bruins
• 1940 Boston Bruins
• 1939 Boston Bruins
• 1938 Boston Bruins
• 1937 Detroit Red Wings
• 1936 Detroit Red Wings
• 1935 Toronto Maple Leafs
• 1934 Toronto Maple Leafs
• 1933 Boston Bruins
• 1932 Montreal Canadiens
• 1931 Boston Bruins
• 1930 Boston Bruins
• 1929 Montreal Canadiens
• 1928 Montreal Canadiens
• 1927 Ottawa Senators
• 1926 Ottawa Senators
• 1925 Hamilton Tigers
• 1924 Ottawa Senators
• 1923 Ottawa Senators
• 1922 Ottawa Senators
• 1921 Toronto St. Patricks
• 1920 Ottawa Senators
• 1919 Ottawa Senators
• 1918 Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Arenas (tie)

External link

• NHL.com - The Presidents' Trophy (http://nhl.com/hockeyu/history/trophies/presidents.html)