Prince of Wales Trophy

Announcement in The New York Times

The Prince of Wales Trophy was first announced in December 1925. It was sponsored by the then Prince of Wales, Prince Edward, and thus bore the Prince of Wales' feathers and the shield of the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada. Costing $2,500, the trophy was said to be in the possession of the league champion.[2] It was originally awarded to the winner of the first game played in Madison Square Garden, held on December 15, 1925 (Montreal Canadiens 3 at New York Americans 1). The award was then held by the Canadiens until the end of the season.[3][4] The Canadiens engraved their name on the trophy twice, for the 1924–25 season, and the preceding 1923–24 season, for which the team was league champions.

It was then awarded to the NHL playoff champion in 1925–26 and 1926–27, (along with the O'Brien Cup) before that team would go on to face the Western Hockey League (WHL) champion for the Stanley Cup at the end of those seasons.[5] From the 1927–28 season on, the trophy was awarded to the champion of the American Division of the NHL, while the O'Brien Cup was presented to the Canadian Division champion, until 1938, when, after the NHL reverted to a single division, the Wales Trophy was made the award for the overall regular season champion.[5]

With the expansion of the NHL in 1967, and the creation of the West Division, the Wales Trophy was given to the team that finished in first place in the East Division, during the regular season. When the league formed two conferences in 1974, the trophy transferred to the team that finished with the best regular season record in the Wales Conference, until 1981. The NHL changed its playoff format so that the two conference playoff champions would meet for the Stanley Cup. The Prince of Wales Trophy was presented to the Wales Conference playoff champions. In the summer of 1993 Wales Conference was renamed the Eastern Conference. Prince of Wales trophy has been awarded to the Eastern Conference playoff champions since the 1993–94 season.[5]

A superstition that is prevalent among many of today's NHL players is that no player should either touch or hoist the Wales (Eastern Conference champion) or Clarence S. Campbell (Western Conference champion) Trophies after they have won the conference playoffs; these players feel that the Stanley Cup is the true championship trophy and thus it should be the only trophy that they should be hoisting. Instead of touching the conference trophy, the captain of the winning team merely poses (usually looking solemn) with the trophy, and sometimes, the entire team poses as well. However, there have been other teams who have ignored the superstition and hoisted the conference trophies, sometimes going on to win the Cup anyway. Most notably, the Pittsburgh Penguins who were considered the most successful team to touch the trophy, winning the Stanley Cup five times after touching it.[6][7][8]

The NHL abolished the conferences and re-aligned the league into four new divisions for the 2020–21 NHL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the semifinal round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs was contested between the winners of the divisional playoffs and they were seeded according to their regular season record. Initially the trophy was not going to be awarded,[9] but it was later decided that the trophy would be awarded to the winner of the Stanley Cup Semifinals series between the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning.[10]

Key

• * – Defunct team
• – Eventual Stanley Cup champions
• ^a – Engraved in 1925–26.[3]

1923–1925 (pre-donation) engravings

The Canadiens were league champions for these seasons.

Season	Winner	Win #
1923–24	Montreal Canadiens a	1
1924–25	Montreal Canadiens	2

NHL playoff champions (1925–1927)

Season	Winner	Win #
1925–26	Montreal Maroons *	1
1926–27	Ottawa Senators[nb 1] *	1

American Division regular season champions (1927–1938)

Season	Winner	Win #
1927–28	Boston Bruins	1
1928–29	Boston Bruins	2
1929–30	Boston Bruins	3
1930–31	Boston Bruins	4
1931–32	New York Rangers	1
1932–33	Boston Bruins	5
1933–34	Detroit Red Wings	1
1934–35	Boston Bruins	6
1935–36	Detroit Red Wings	2
1936–37	Detroit Red Wings	3
1937–38	Boston Bruins	7

Regular season champions (1938–1967)

Season	Winner	Win #
1938–39	Boston Bruins	8
1939–40	Boston Bruins	9
1940–41	Boston Bruins	10
1941–42	New York Rangers	2
1942–43	Detroit Red Wings	4
1943–44	Montreal Canadiens	3
1944–45	Montreal Canadiens	4
1945–46	Montreal Canadiens	5
1946–47	Montreal Canadiens	6
1947–48	Toronto Maple Leafs	1
1948–49	Detroit Red Wings	5
1949–50	Detroit Red Wings	6
1950–51	Detroit Red Wings	7
1951–52	Detroit Red Wings	8
1952–53	Detroit Red Wings	9
1953–54	Detroit Red Wings	10
1954–55	Detroit Red Wings	11
1955–56	Montreal Canadiens	7
1956–57	Detroit Red Wings	12
1957–58	Montreal Canadiens	8
1958–59	Montreal Canadiens	9
1959–60	Montreal Canadiens	10
1960–61	Montreal Canadiens	11
1961–62	Montreal Canadiens	12
1962–63	Toronto Maple Leafs	2
1963–64	Montreal Canadiens	13
1964–65	Detroit Red Wings	13
1965–66	Montreal Canadiens	14
1966–67	Chicago Black Hawks	1

East Division regular season champions (1967–1974)

Season	Winner	Win #
1967–68	Montreal Canadiens	15
1968–69	Montreal Canadiens	16
1969–70	Chicago Black Hawks	2
1970–71	Boston Bruins	11
1971–72	Boston Bruins	12
1972–73	Montreal Canadiens	17
1973–74	Boston Bruins	13

Wales Conference regular season champions (1974–1981)

Season	Winner	Win #
1974–75	Buffalo Sabres	1
1975–76	Montreal Canadiens	18
1976–77	Montreal Canadiens	19
1977–78	Montreal Canadiens	20
1978–79	Montreal Canadiens	21
1979–80	Buffalo Sabres	2
1980–81	Montreal Canadiens	22

Wales Conference playoffs champions (1981–1993)

Season	Winner	Win #
1981–82	New York Islanders	1
1982–83	New York Islanders	2
1983–84	New York Islanders	3
1984–85	Philadelphia Flyers	1
1985–86	Montreal Canadiens	23
1986–87	Philadelphia Flyers	2
1987–88	Boston Bruins	14
1988–89	Montreal Canadiens	24
1989–90	Boston Bruins	15
1990–91	Pittsburgh Penguins	1
1991–92	Pittsburgh Penguins	2
1992–93	Montreal Canadiens	25

Eastern Conference playoffs champions (1993–2020)

Sidney Crosby of the 2017 Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins poses with the Prince of Wales Trophy.

Season	Winner	Win #
1993–94	New York Rangers	3
1994–95	New Jersey Devils	1
1995–96	Florida Panthers	1
1996–97	Philadelphia Flyers	3
1997–98	Washington Capitals	1
1998–99	Buffalo Sabres	3
1999–2000	New Jersey Devils	2
2000–01	New Jersey Devils	3
2001–02	Carolina Hurricanes	1
2002–03	New Jersey Devils	4
2003–04	Tampa Bay Lightning	1
2004–05	Season cancelled due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout
2005–06	Carolina Hurricanes	2
2006–07	Ottawa Senators	1
2007–08	Pittsburgh Penguins	3
2008–09	Pittsburgh Penguins	4
2009–10	Philadelphia Flyers	4
2010–11	Boston Bruins	16
2011–12	New Jersey Devils	5
2012–13	Boston Bruins	17
2013–14	New York Rangers	4
2014–15	Tampa Bay Lightning	2
2015–16	Pittsburgh Penguins	5
2016–17	Pittsburgh Penguins	6
2017–18	Washington Capitals	2
2018–19	Boston Bruins	18
2019–20	Tampa Bay Lightning	3

Stanley Cup Semifinals (2020–2021)

Season	Winner	Win #
2020–21	Tampa Bay Lightning	4

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