We’re getting close to the stretch run of the 2017-18 NHL Regular Season. The Boston Bruins sit three points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the best record in the league.
The Presidents’ Trophy is annually given to the team with that finishes the regular season with the highest point total. As I mentioned above, the Boston Bruins are right in the thick of it battling for first place in the Eastern Conference.
An interesting question has arose regarding the potential accomplishment: Should the Bruins want to win the Presidents’ Trophy?
While winning the award is a great accomplishment, it by no means makes a team a lock for their ultimate goal: winning the Stanley Cup. Since the NHL returned from its’ lockout in 2005-06, just two teams, the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings and the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks* (I put a * because that season was shortened by a strike to just 48 games) went on to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup.
That’s just two teams in 12 seasons, the Washington Capitals have won the award the most in that span, three times (2009-10, 2015-16, 2016-17) and they have yet to reach even the Conference Finals, even while usually having one of the league’s most potent offenses led by Alex Ovechkin.
One answer regarding the lack of Cup wins for the Presidents’ Trophy winners, is that those teams tend to “peak” to early, or over-exhaust themselves chasing the best record, and then are too fatigued from the grind when playoff time comes around.
It’s hard to argue with that logic, with just two of those teams winning the cup, one being in a shortened season, only one other winner (2010-11 Vancouver Canucks) has even reached the final round. Most of the those teams end up making an early exit in the spring.
If you wanna look to the Bruins side of things, the team won the award during the 2013-14 campaign, a year after losing to the Blackhawks in the Cup Finals , they responded by going 54-19-9 resulting in 117 points. The season ended at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, falling in Game 7 of the second round on home ice.
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Down the stretch that season, Boston went on a 16 game point streak going 15-0-1 from March 2nd, to March 22nd before losing five out of seven to finish out the regular season, leaving a bad taste in their mouth heading into the playoffs.
Now, I’m not saying the team or Bruins fans should be scared of winning the award, that would be crazy. But rather, I’m saying don’t be upset if they don’t. There’s a lot to be excited about regarding this team, and they have proven that they can skate with anybody, anywhere. Presidents’ Trophy or not, it will be a fun spring on Causeway Street.