The President's Trophy deserves way more respect.

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Me when I pretend that the games aren't a million times more competitive in the playoffs. The regular season is unwatchable these days. You say the fans don't care but the players care even less.

The PWHL has a better product. Less teams, less games, and the players actually recognize the privilege and play an honest game.

 

[Tawnos]

How many coaches are strategizing to win the President's trophy?

Pretty much all of them. A team's goal in the regular season is to win as many games as possible. The end result of doing that the best is the President's Trophy.

I agree here with the OP. A lot of it for me comes from the entertainment standpoint. If my team won a President's Trophy, that means I spent 6 months watching my team kick ass. I'm not letting 4 losses over the span of 1-2 weeks negate that. Since the only actual meaning sports have are how well they entertain their fans, I'll consider that 6 months of high entertainment to be pretty meaningful.

Frankly, in a 32 team league, I think it's the only reasonable way to look at it. Cup or bust is kind of a ridiculous stance when multiple-decade spans without a Stanley Cup are the norm, so if my team has a great season then I'm going to enjoy it regardless of whether there's a Cup at the end of it or not. 3 of 4 teams haven't won a Cup in 10 years. 3 of 5 teams haven't won in 20 years. 2 of 5 haven't won in 30 years. With numbers like that, why be a fan if the only thing that has meaning is the Stanley Cup?

Is not winning the Cup when you have a President's Trophy team or a deep playoff run disappointing? Sure it is, but the President's Trophy still holds a lot of meaning to me.

 

[TageGod]

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?

Best team in the league carries a lot of meaning to me. Matchups, injuries, play style shifts in the playoffs don't always favor that team in the playoffs. As a Sabres fan, I understand how hard it is for a team to put together a complete performance night after night.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Four rounds of best of seven is a much more effective way of determining a worthy champion than a pseudo but ultimately unbalanced round robin where teams have different incentives throughout the year.

 

[QuizGuy66]

The league doesn't even have a president though.l

 

[jetsmooseice]

Pretty much all of them. A team's goal in the regular season is to win as many games as possible. The end result of doing that the best is the President's Trophy.

I agree here with the OP. A lot of it for me comes from the entertainment standpoint. If my team won a President's Trophy, that means I spent 6 months watching my team kick ass. I'm not letting 4 losses over the span of 1-2 weeks negate that. Since the only actual meaning sports have are how well they entertain their fans, I'll consider that 6 months of high entertainment to be pretty meaningful.

Frankly, in a 32 team league, I think it's the only reasonable way to look at it. Cup or bust is kind of a ridiculous stance when multiple-decade spans without a Stanley Cup are the norm, so if my team has a great season then I'm going to enjoy it regardless of whether there's a Cup at the end of it or not. 3 of 4 teams haven't won a Cup in 10 years. 3 of 5 teams haven't won in 20 years. 2 of 5 haven't won in 30 years. With numbers like that, why be a fan if the only thing that has meaning is the Stanley Cup?

Is not winning the Cup when you have a President's Trophy team or a deep playoff run disappointing? Sure it is, but the President's Trophy still holds a lot of meaning to me.

This is a reasonable, nuanced take in a forum that likes to be hyper-reductionist when it comes to this sort of thing with the "CUP OR BUST", etc. I mean, if that's what you really think, then why even bother watching regular season games since all it is to you is an extended preseason?

 

[Tawnos]

This is a reasonable, nuanced take in a forum that likes to be hyper-reductionist when it comes to this sort of thing with the "CUP OR BUST", etc. I mean, if that's what you really think, then why even bother watching regular season games since all it is to you is an extended preseason?

Thanks. To be fair, though, there's no requirement for hockey fans to be reasonable about... well... about anything at all.

 

[MadLuke]

Four rounds of best of seven is a much more effective way of determining a worthy champion than a pseudo but ultimately unbalanced round robin where teams have different incentives throughout the year.

Which make it in modern almost a no-go now, to ever come back of being a really big deal.

31 teams playing each other teams 3 time and we are already at 93 games, it is virtually impossible for team to have an equivalent schedule to compare, winning it in the 06 when everyone played every team exactly 14 times was much more meaningful, specially if the number 1 did beat the number 2 in head to head.

Winning a year by a good amount ok, but caring about the last game or a tie-breaker between a western and eastern team of who win the president trophy ?