The New York Rangers incredible regular season has eight games remaining. The campaign includes 50 wins along with 104 points and a tight battle for not only winning the Metropolitan division but also the President Trophy as the league’s top team in the regular season.
The NHL’s best team comes with an important caveat: home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Is the President Trophy curse worth the effort it tasks to get there?
President Trophy
The Presiden Trophy is awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season. The trophy was awarded for the first time at the end of the 1985-’86 season. It has been won 37 times in total, but the home-ice advantage that comes with this accomplishment has not been the deciding factor in most instances.
In what may seem surprising, 18 teams have won the trophy, but only eight of those teams that have won the President’s Trophy have gone on to win the Stanley Cup in the same playoff season.
Break the Curse
The fitting teams to overcome the curse;
- Edmonton 1986-’87
- Calgary 1988-’89
- New York Rangers 1993-’94
- Dallas 1998- ’99
- Colorado 2000- ’01
- Detroit 2001- ’02
- Detroit 2007- ’08
- Chicago 2012- ’13
The New York Rangers came close to being a two-time winner on the list when they won the trophy in the 2014-’15 season when they made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Playing the odds, if possible, and having the home ice advantage in any series is essential. Realizing that your team would have three home games in a seven-game series, including game seven, should make any player, team, and organization make it the ultimate end-of-season goal.
This Ranger team has lost nine games at Madison Square Garden. Yet this curse seems to be lingering, pestering at the back of the Broadway Blueshirts.
The title of best team in the NHL is within their grasp. Eight games remain on the schedule, with only one game against a team currently in playoff position. That would be the Philadelphia Flyers, whom they play at MSG on April 11th. The Flyers sit in the WC2 position with 82 points, two points ahead of the team chasing them for the last wild card position, the Detroit Red Wings.
The best way to handle this curse is simple: Play the game, and the results will tell you whether it’s worth it. Curse be damned, this New York Rangers team has shown it can win games in any situation.
The most important thing is for the team to stay healthy and prepare for the first round of the playoffs.
Follow Frank on X at @RangerProud
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