The NHL Presidents' Trophy has been awarded to the team with the best regular-season record since 1986.
The one thing we've learned recently about this prestigious regular-season award is it is just that – a regular-season award that guarantees absolutely nothing in the postseason.
Over the last decade, we have heard nothing but, "The Presidents' Trophy winner is cursed! So what they have 100+ points, wait until the playoffs."
The Current Contender
The last time a Presidents' Trophy winner actually won the Stanley Cup was the Chicago Blackhawks back in 2013. The current 10-year drought is the longest since the inception of the award – something the New York Rangers hope they can break in their upcoming playoff campaign.
Many hockey fans thought last year's Presidents' Trophy winner was going to break the curse – and the Bruins lost in the first round. This year, it's the Rangers' chance – in the driver's seat for the first time since 2015 and the fourth time since the inception of the trophy (1992, 1994, 2015, 2024).
Only eight times has the Presidents' Trophy winner also won the Stanley Cup, with the Rangers competing the task back in 1993-94. If the Rangers can complete the journey again, they would join the Red Wings as the only teams to win the trophy and the cup in the same season multiple times.
The Rangers were able to maintain the level necessary to rack up the highest wins (55) and points (114) totals in franchise history this year — so this team can compete with the best of the best..
The Curse
The Rangers ended the season with 114 points – which may be a good thing considering the history we've seen with the real dominant teams entering the playoffs recently.
Seven Presidents' Trophy winners have earned 120+ points. Four lost in the first round, two made it to the second round, and only one reached the conference finals.
Not only that, but each of the last eight Presidents' Trophy winners has failed to make it past the second round, the longest stretch in the history of the award. The last to do so? The Rangers in 2015.
It's important to note that the "Presidents' Trophy Curse" is only a more recent phenomenon. Since the Blackhawks won in 2013, the 10 winners have won a total of only nine playoff series combined.
Prior to that, trophy winners have won a little over two series per year, with eight Stanley Cup champs in 27 seasons, with 11 making the Stanley Cup Final.
One interesting note about the Presidents' Trophy winners' struggles is conference-related. Of the seven franchises with a Stanley Cup win entering the playoffs with the Presidents' Trophy tag, six came out of the Western Conference and only one came from the East: the 1993-94 New York Rangers.
The only other Eastern Conference team to even make the Stanley Cup Final with this distinction was … the Boston Bruins back in 1990.
The Betting Background
The Rangers have 55 wins entering the playoffs, which puts them in a class of just 10 teams to win the Presidents' Trophy with that many victories – unfortunately for New York, none of those previous nine teams even made the Stanley Cup Final, with just one making the Conference Finals (1996 Detroit Red Wings).
Those nine teams combined to win just seven playoff series, too – expectations very much hit a wall.
New York entered the regular season with +2000 odds to win the Stanley Cup. In the 38-year history of the Presidents' Trophy, only four other teams opened the season with +2800 odds or higher and ended up winning the prestigious regular season award – those were the 2000 Blues (+3000), 2023 Bruins (+2800), 1992 Rangers (+2500) and 2022 Panthers (+2200).
If you look through history, only seven teams have won the Presidents' Trophy with higher than +1500 preseason odds, and each of those seven teams won a total of six playoff series, with only one even making the Conference Finals.
Finally, it's worth looking at the odds as of now. Entering the playoffs, the Rangers are currently +800 to win the Stanley Cup – that would be the biggest price for a Presidents' Trophy winner in the history of the distinction. The highest price prior to this year was the Bruins back in 2020, when they entered the playoffs at +600.
