Capitals

No President’s Trophy Curse = Stanley Cup for Caps

Does the sun look a little bit brighter today? Does your designer coffee taste a bit more decadent?  It’s probably because you’re a Caps fan, and last night you witnessed them make history and win the Stanley Cup.  You, and millions of other fans, will continue to revel in the victory that gave the DMV their first championship team since 1992.

Although there are a multitude of things that made this year unique and different, there are also many similarities.  The Caps had most of the same players that they had in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, they had the same goalies, and they had the same coach, but one thing is different – they didn’t win the President’s Trophy.  The prestigious award is given to the team with the best regular season record.  In 1986, the NHL’s Board of Governors decided that it was necessary to honor the team with the most points during the regular season.  Prior to that time, the team with the most points merely got to hang a banner in their arena that read ‘NHL League Champions’.  That’s when the President’s Trophy was born.  Aside from the title itself, the team on top is given home-ice advantage in the playoffs.  Sounds great, right?  Wrong.  In the hockey world, winning the President’s Trophy is considered a jinx.  Only about 25% of the teams that receive the President’s Trophy go on to win the Stanley Cup in that particular season.  For the past two seasons, the Caps had a roster that screamed Stanley Cup, they earned the President’s Trophy, and fell flat in the playoffs.

So, are you superstitious?  This season, the Nashville predator’s finished with a record of 53-18-11 in the regular season, which earned the franchise their first-ever Presidents’ Trophy.  True to ‘the curse’ they lost to the Winnipeg Jets in the second round causing P.K. Subban to be available to stand in as an announcer for the Stanley Cup Final instead of playing in it.

Hockey is a sport fraught with superstition and the curse of the President’s Trophy is just one example.  Even though I really don’t believe in curses and jinxes personally, I was damn glad the Caps didn’t get that honor this year!

Congratulations to the players, coaches and all the fans, old and new, that have made this playoff season unbelievably exciting and remarkably memorable.

Let’s Go Caps!  2018 Stanley Cup Champions!

Barbara Banks

Barbara Ann Banks is a freelance writer out of Rockville, MD.

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