2019-20 ???
Isn’t the NHL fun? Only one team that has won the Presidents’ Trophy in the past decade has gone on to win the Stanley Cup. So I guess root for your rival to have the best regular season record in the NHL right?
Teams across the league need to remember that it is not about how you do in November or December that determine if you will win the Stanley Cup. At the end of the day you need to show up to play in the playoffs. Just because a team wins the Presidents’ Trophy does not mean you start every game with a 3 goal lead.
Right now the early pick for the Presidents’ Trophy is the Boston Bruins, and honestly that makes sense to me. Boston is a year removed from going to the Stanley Cup Final and losing to the St. Louis Blues. This past decade we have seen more than a few teams win the Presidents’ Trophy after getting beaten in the Stanley Cup Final. Whether or not Boston can win is yet to be seen.
Of course, John Carlson and the Washington Capitals might just win the Presidents’ Trophy again for the fourth time in 10 years wouldn’t that be fun? We still have a long way to go this season, and if this article tells you one thing, I hope it is that teams should worry less about being the best and more about just making the playoffs.