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?