The President's Trophy deserves way more respect.

[Plastic Joseph]

Counterpoint:
Why?

Why is anything the way it is? Why do european soccer clubs care more about the season than the cups? Why do sprinters care so much more about the olympics than the world championships? Why is winning wimbledon or the masters more prestigious than becoming the #1 ranked player?

Its all based on the culture and historical context. Anyone who watches the NHL (or any NA big 4) they know that the title is all that matters. Nobody cares about the #1 seed any more than the fact that it gives you home advantage, which can help you win the Cup, which is again all that anyone cares about. Would you rather run your PB in a heat race and then get no medal or would you rather qualify for the finals and win the gold? This is more or less the approach the elite teams take. I don 't think anyone purposely avoids the presidents trophy, but you don't strain yourself reaching for it, you conserve for the playoffs.

When teams are resting guys in the regular season to prepare for the playoffs, its easy to see. I think the reason most fans/players aren't content or stoked with the presidents trophy is because players know that it is more like qualifying or seeing towards the tournament that matters. Its clear that all the competitors aren't going 100%.

 

[Xirik]

the people who deride it are usually fans from teams that are at the bottom of the standings because in their mind they believe "Yeah you got the presidents trophy but you didn't get the cup, Meanwhile our team is getting a top pick in the draft so technically we are the winners! way to try hard LOSERS!"

 

[Plastic Joseph]

the people who deride it are usually fans from teams that are at the bottom of the standings because in their mind they believe "Yeah you got the presidents trophy but you didn't get the cup, Meanwhile our team is getting a top pick in the draft so technically we are the winners! way to try hard LOSERS!"

I don't personally think its worthless and ideally you would want to win both the Presidents trophy AND the Cup, but if we compare them its not even in the same stratosphere.

For example, I would say you could make an argument that a team who wins the Presidents trophy and loses in round 1 had maybe an equally successful season as a team that finished as a wild card and made the 2nd round. But I think a wildcard team that makes it to the conference finals or better is more successful than a Presidents trophy winning 1st round exit.

Why? Because getting the cup is the only real goal. How many players or coaches have you ever heard say at the beginning of the season "we think we have a really good shot at winning the regular season this year"? the answer is 0, because none of them are striving for that goal. If they win it, its a bonus but nobody really cares to have that trophy. The closer you come to winning the cup the closer you were to reaching the goal for that year, plain and simple.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

The Cup will always be the most publicly lauded and valued by the general public and players.

IMHO the Presidents Trophy is the more objectively impressive feat though.

I have no issue saying that most years the Cup isn’t won by the most talented team. It’s won by the team who had the perfect storm of health, puck luck, reffing, and bracket path. A full 82 season schedule removed a lot of that bias.

I think a healthy Dallas team dusts both the Oilers and Panthers last year in a BO7. But nobody will ever know or care.

 

[ricky0034]

personally I actually value it higher than the Cup

the sample size is much bigger, while still far from perfect the refs call regular season games much closer to the games actual rules, and you're playing every team instead of just the tiny handful of teams you happen to match up against which you mostly aren't determining yourself

the Playoffs do have endless 5 on 5 OT which just isn't feasible in the larger sample size of the regular season though so that's nice

 

[Nogatco Rd]

considering the influence unbalanced schedules have on it, no it really doesnt deserve more respect.

How is that any different than the unbalanced schedules the two SC finalists face in the playoffs? There’s much more opportunity for variance with such a small sample size (3 opponents each) and no common opponents

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

The Cup will always be the most publicly lauded and valued by the general public and players.

IMHO the Presidents Trophy is the more objectively impressive feat though.

I have no issue saying that most years the Cup isn’t won by the most talented team. It’s won by the team who had the perfect storm of health, puck luck, reffing, and bracket path. A full 82 season schedule removed a lot of that bias.

I think a healthy Dallas team dusts both the Oilers and Panthers last year in a BO7. But nobody will ever know or care.

Objectively, hypothetically an 82 game sample is worth more than the playoffs.

The nuance is that we know nobody is going all out to win the presidents trophy whe everyone is during the playoffs

 

[Grifter3511]

The President's Trophy Winner gets a shit ton of respect.............in the hand shake line.

 

[tomin]

Then declare it so as you wish and hope your teams wins a PC.
It seems the players, who are responsible for PC, SC, etc. are interested in the SC more than all other achievements, by a large margin.

Also the kings were very very successful and very very hard to play against for many years.
Not many teams wanted to play the kings, in the regular season or a playoff series. I know as a blues fan I didn’t enjoy it.

 

[Plastic Joseph]

The Cup will always be the most publicly lauded and valued by the general public and players.

IMHO the Presidents Trophy is the more objectively impressive feat though.

I have no issue saying that most years the Cup isn’t won by the most talented team. It’s won by the team who had the perfect storm of health, puck luck, reffing, and bracket path. A full 82 season schedule removed a lot of that bias.

I think a healthy Dallas team dusts both the Oilers and Panthers last year in a BO7. But nobody will ever know or care.

That's just it though, timing is everything, and everyone is training for the playoffs. Obviously there is a lot of luck involved with injuries but the general rule of thumb is that the harder you go in the regular season the higher the risk you sustain injuries before the playoffs. Science would also attest to this, there's a reason all the MLB pitchers are on pitch counts now and will get pulled during no-hitters. That's how little we in NA collectively value the regular season now. Personally, I think it has gone too far and I'm thankful that hockey players aren't load managing yet for the most part (LTIR), but you can't deny that every team is looking at the regular season and taking a calculated approach. They don't push their limits to come #1 instead of #2.

Its like running your PB in a marathon 3 weeks before the Olympics and then failing to get a medal. Even if your time 3 weeks ago was better than the gold medal time, would anyone care? No, because everyone was training to peak at the olympics. Its not worthless, but it wasn't the goal for most competitors. The regular season is exactly the same.

 

[Regal]

Beating the Presidents Trophy winner as an 8th seed is overrated? They beat all three conference division winners on the way to the Cup.

Quick was awesome and a big reason they dusted each team quickly, but the Kings were the better team each series. He deserved the Smythe but the OPs “entirely on the back of Quick” is a big exaggeration

 

[JPT]

What has it done to earn more respect though? Respect isn't free.

 

[Look Up]

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

This is a really embarrassing thread lol

 

[VivaLasVegas]

that a bit circular, would it not be derired, acclaimed instead they would not.

A bit like player engaged in an Art Ross-Hart race usually not taken a rest the last games even if the playoff spot is a lock.

For a while winning the regular season was a bigger deal in the nhl (the playoff were shorter too) and the best team had played each other like 14 times with the exact same schedule, now we are not even comparing the same thing between them.

Some season it is extreme, Montreal won the east in 2008, they were 3-5-2 against the west, what looking at their record versus the Ducks (8-2-0 versus the east) that year tell us ?

If some star is vying for an individual award, then they can continue to play. But there is only a few of those awards and most stars aren't in the race for those awards for one reason or another. Teams with big point leads do routinely rest players in the last month, and particularly the last week, of the regular season -- that's just a fact. The NFL and NBA top teams likewise rest starters if they have already clinched their playoff berth. In the MLB, they rest pitchers (but they like to keep batters heated up).

These other leagues also do not emphasize the regular-season winner much, if barely at all.

This is not to say that the existing point system and playoff system are not susceptible to improvements, because they are. I personally find the point system as presently constituted to be ridiculous insofar as an extra point is manufactured by a tie in what should be a zero-sum seasonal contest. And, I would qualify wildcards without regard to conference.

 

[Chet Manley]

I'm really not a fan of discounting the season as nothing. We watch 82 games of nothing. Followed by 4 to 7 more games of nothing. And another series of nothing. Okay one more. Now we're cooking with games that matter. Lost in 4 to 7 games.... that amounts to nothing.

Lots of times it just feels like an cheap reputable that sort of works on 30 of 31 teams and it's players achieving anything. No-mind sports fan laziness.

 

[Deviled]

It's ridiculous that so many NHL fans deride the President's Trophy and dismiss it as meaningless. Teams and players should take pride in being more successful than 31 other teams over an 82-game sample size. It's a testament to the group's talent, consistency, effort, and cohesion. Fans should be grateful and thrilled to watch their team win night-in and night-out for seven months.

I've long held this opinion, but--as a Panthers fan--the time is right to declare it.
The 2021-22 President's Trophy run was by far the most entertaining season of hockey I've ever watched. It was disappointing when they were swept in the second round, but that couldn't negate how much fun the lead-up was. The 2022-23 season couldn't even keep me engaged until the playoffs. As the 2023-24 season concluded, I found myself really, really hoping they could win enough games to catch the President's Trophy again. Obviously the playoffs were exhilarating, but they were equally stressful since the small sample size of each series is so luck dependent. You're more focused on your team not losing as opposed to actually winning.

When we look at team (and to a lesser extent player) success, the President's Trophy should count a tier below the Cup.
For example, in the Salary Cap Era, the Kings have won 2 cups (one entirely on the back of Jonathan Quick), 10 playoff series, and made the playoffs 9 times. Can anybody seriously claim that they've been more successful than the Capitals and Bruins? Does anybody really believe that they're more comparable to the Lightning and Blackhawks than the Blues and Red Wings?

I hope New Jersey can win one someday; would be quite the accomplishment for a team that has none in its short(ish) history

 

[1specter]

God I love this juxtaposition.

 

[Cup or Bust]

I don't think the President's trophy is disrespected, it's just not respected as much as playoff success which is all fans care about in the end. I personally don't give a damn if my favorite team finishes 1st overall, I just care whether they win the Cup or not.

 

[ItWasJustified]

So a sample size of 7 games that the 23 Bruins lost 4 of by 1 goal means more than an 82 game sample size when they were the best regular season team arguably in history?

Yes. Players coast through a regular season. In the playoffs they try give 100% in each moment on the ice.

 

[MadLuke]

If some star is vying for an individual award, then they can continue to play. But there is only a few of those awards and most stars aren't in the race for those awards for one reason or another. Teams with big point leads do routinely rest players in the last month, and particularly the last week, of the regular season -- that's just a fact. The NFL and NBA top teams likewise rest starters if they have already clinched their playoff berth. In the MLB, they rest pitchers (but they like to keep batters heated up).

These other leagues also do not emphasize the regular-season winner much, if barely at all.

Exactly thus the circular, in league that do not emphasize winning the regular season, yes they do not care.

But they could, like my example, people could deride Art Ross and even more a player that visibly care and play a lot to win it (say Iginla year) and if they did player would rarely do it. And vice versa, if people made a big deal of the president Trophy winners, star would try to win it and not skip game.

That the subject, it is not respected so team/player do not care much.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

No not at all, because it's not the goal. It's just a nice to have. If the goal was to win the president's trophy, teams would have different strategies throughout the year to maximize points above all else.

Instead the real goal is the Stanley Cup, and you want your team to be healthy and playing well heading into the playoffs. Not doing everything they can to win the president's trophy. Lots of players coast a bit through the year and then give it their all in the playoffs. The playoffs are a different level of hockey with much higher intensity. President's trophy just doesn't compare.

 

[NVious]

Casual NHL fans: meh who cares about the stupid president trophy

Hardcore NHL fans: WE WON THE PRESSY? OMG OMG OMG RAISE THE BANNER YESSSS WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!

 

[HockeyVirus]

We live in a black and white world. If something is good (cup) something must be bad (presidents trophy). Nuance is a rarity today.

I agree with OP. Same with winning divisions and stuff. Obviously different scales of celebration but accomplishments fans should be allowed to be proud of.

 

[hamzarocks]

If the NHL wanted to increase importance of President trophy they could create an NBA inseason tourney like thing

They could do a reoccurring 4-year tournement where:

1) 4 Cup winners during that period

2) 4 President trophy winners during that period

3) 4 Cup finalists during that period

4) 4 President trophy cup runner ups during that period

5) If there are reoccurences for above 4 criteria (i.e., teams fit in more than 1 group above, and thus less than 16 teams) have the remaining teams be determined by blended reg season+playoff success for that 4 year period

Play a single game elimination style tournment with ranking being based on

1) How often you appear in one of those 4 groups during that period (cup win, president trophy win is 2 pts, cup runner and president trophy runner is 1 pt)

2) If there are teams tied, then look at a blend of playoff and regular season performance weighted equally to see who is higher seeded team for single game elimination matchup

The tournment could have 4th place win $5M, 3rd place $10M, 2nd place - $15M, and 1st place - $20M.

Logistics would be an issue

1) When would the tourney occur?

2) How would the 4-year cycle winners prize of $50M be raised?

3) Would players be willing to play initially as it would take time to legitimize and bring prestige to this sort of tourney and the cup/championship award that came with this ultimately

4) How would you handle a team who had 2 really successful years in 4 year cycle but are now not contending or ready tp rebuild?

it won't happen, but is a fun idea to consider having this type of tournment which would highly encourage being a dominant regular season team and winning or coming 2nd for the president trophie to qualify for the "NHL CUP" tournement

Ultimately the president trophy will continue to be ignored and cup is what will matter

For reference based off of 2021-2024 period the teams would be;

1) Cup winners: Tampa, Avs, Knights, Panthers - 2 pts

2) President trophy winners: Avs, Panthers, Boston, Rangers - 2 pts

3) Cup runner ups: MTL, Tampa, Panthers, Oilers - 1 pt

4) President trophy runner ups - Vegas, Avs, Canes, Stars - 1pt

Teams slotted in:

1) Avs - 5 pts
2) Panthers - 5 pts
3) Knights - 3 pts
4) Tampa - 3 pts
5) Rangers - 2 pts
6) Bruins - 2 pts
7) Oilers - 1 pt
8) Canes - 1 pt
9) Stars - 1 pt

Teams 10-16 would be based on Reg+playoff success for that 4 year period