Avalanche fans don’t need to be cursing under their breath about winning the Presidents’ Trophy.
Yes, the recent playoff history for NHL teams that record the most regular-season points in a given year is … well, we won’t lie. It stinks.
The last squad to rack up the most points in the NHL’s regular season and then go on to win the Stanley Cup was the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks.
Since then, only the New York Rangers have won the Presidents’ Trophy and even reached their respective conference finals (’14-15 and ’23-24).
The puckheads up in the Grading The Week offices have given the Presidents’ Trophy a lot of thought these last few months, as it became a necessary evil in order for the Avs to assuredly avoid another first-round playoff matchup with the Stars (who they’ll probably end up playing in the second round anyway).
By and large, full disclosure, we kinda hate the thing. It’s a front office award more than a team one. Is it a fine achievement? Yeah. Sure. But in a sport with the most fun, most arduous, most physical and most bonkers postseason bracket in North America, played for the best sports trophy on Planet Earth, “winning” the regular season feels like a lot of empty calories compared to lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup.
Let’s put it this way: Winnipeg won the Presidents’ Trophy a year ago. The Capitals have won it three times over the last three decades; Since ’96, the Canucks and Stars have won it twice. They don’t throw parades for Presidents’ Trophies.
The NHL postseason is a different beast with different officiating, different stakes, different intensity and different rules.
And yet … two things tend to translate, historically, from the regular season to the playoff grit and grind. One is good goaltending. The second is dominance via depth. Your ’25-26 Avs have plenty of both. Which is why history says they’re poised to pull off something no NHL team has done in 48 years.
Colorado’s Presidents’ Trophy Curse — C-
The Avs’ 121 points set a new single-season franchise record, (But, it should be noted, didn’t win the Presidents’ Trophy that season — Florida got it, only to be eliminated by eventual Eastern Conference champ Tampa Bay in the second round.)
Colorado is just the 13th team in league history to reach the 120-point mark during the regular season. Downside: The last team to win the Cup while also producing a regular season of 120 points or more was the ’77-78 Montreal Canadiens.
But the GTW crew did a little digging, and we found something curious when it comes to those 120-point clubs and the postseason. Something curious and pretty hopeful, if you wear burgundy and blue.
Only three of those 13 teams led the league during their respective regular seasons in both most goals scored and fewest goals given up. The first two were the ’76-77 Canadiens and the ’77-78 Habs we already mentioned.
The third? This season’s Avs. No other NHL squads racked up at least 120 points while also leading the league in most goals for and fewest goals against.
Those two Montreal teams that dominated in the standings and the scoreboard? They won it all, baby.
And what a regular season.
Nathan MacKinnon (127 points) and Marty Necas (100) both topped the 100-point mark — Necas for the first time in his career with an assist at Calgary this past Tuesday.
MacKinnon notched a fourth straight 100-point season, extending the longest streak in Colorado franchise history, while winning the NHL’s Maurice Richard trophy as the league’s leading goal-scorer for the first time. His 53 goals were a new career best.
On the other end of the pond, the goaltending combo of Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood, Denver’s Lumber Company, notched the William M. Jennings Trophy from the league for allowing the fewest goals as a team.
Wedgewood, at age 33, just became the first goalie in Avs or Nordiques history to lead the NHL in both save percentage (92.1) and goal-against average (2,02). The last Avs netminder to lead the league in GAA was the great Patrick Roy in ’01-02. More historical precedent: Of the previous six teams that posted seasons of 120 points-plus while also leading the league in fewest goals allowed, four went on to win the Cup.
For six months, the Avs have been the best team in hockey. Front to back. As far as Lord Stanley’s concerned, none of that matters now. But when you’re this darn good, even curses don’t stand in your way.
