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President's Trophy Winners
{{legend|#ccfebb|Team won the Stanley Cup.|border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}} {{legend|#ffcc66|Team lost in the Stanley Cup Finals.|border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}} {{legend|#ffbbbb|Team lost in the first round of the playoffs. |border = solid 1px #AAAAAA}} Bold Team with the most points ever accumulated in a season during the trophy's existence.

Regular season and playoffs
Bold indicates led league

Nashville Predators

 * 1 Season was cancelled due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout.
 * 2 As of the 2005–06 NHL season, all games tied after regulation will be decided in a shootout; SOL (Shootout losses) will be recorded as OTL in the standings.
 * 3 The 2012–13 NHL season was shortened due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout.
 * 4 The 2019–20 NHL season was suspended on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 5 Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020–21 NHL season was shortened to 56 games.

Teams
The three division winners in each league and the top three non-division winners in each league qualified for the playoffs. The top two division winners receive byes to the American League Division Series (ALDS) or National League Division Series (NLDS) while the other teams who qualify for the playoffs play in the wild card series.


 * 1) Boston Red Sox – AL East champions, AL best record, MLB best record, 104–58
 * 2) Kansas City Royals – AL Central champions, 101–61
 * 3) Las Vegas Athletics – AL West champions, 95–67
 * 4) Baltimore Orioles – 96–66
 * 5) Toronto Blue Jays – 92–70
 * 6) Detroit Tigers – 89–73

National League

 * 1) Los Angeles Dodgers – NL West champions, NL best record, 102–60
 * 2) Philadelphia Phillies – NL East champions, 100–62
 * 3) Pittsburgh Pirates – NL Central champions, 94–68
 * 4) Colorado Rockies – 97–65
 * 5) Atlanta Braves – 91–71
 * 6) Cincinnati Reds – 86–76

Playoff bracket
 


 * 1 The 2019–20 NHL season was suspended on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 * 2 The 2020–21 NHL season was shortened to 56 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2026 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2026 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s 2025–26 season and the conclusion of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Eastern Conference champion Columbus Blue Jackets in seven games to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history and second in four years.

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. This was Vegas's third Finals appearance. Their previous Finals appearance was in 2023, only their sixth season of existence, in which they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. For Columbus, this was their first Finals appearance. This is the first Stanley Cup Final played between two teams that were founded in the 2000s.

Vegas Golden Knights
This was Vegas's third Finals appearance. They most recently defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in 2023, and before that lost to the Washington Capitals in five games in 2018—which was Vegas's first season of existence. With this being Vegas's third appearance in its first nine seasons, the Golden Knights had made the Stanley Cup Final in a third of their seasons.

After being defeated in game 7 of the Western Conference Final by the Nashville Predators, the Knights chose to let their young core develop rather than spend money in free agency. Their big move of the offseason was trading struggling goaltender Nick Johnson, who had been with the team since its inception to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for similarly struggling goalie Kelley Crescenzo. Crescenzo immediately became Vegas's starting goaltender, amassing a 34–15–5 record, a 2.58 goals against average (GAA), and a 0.928 save percentage. Backup goalie Kenton Hicks, who had started throughout the 2025 playoffs, recorded a 14–10–4 record, 2.99 GAA, and 0.915 save percentage. Also in the off-season, they re-signed Hannah McPhearson, Azra Cetin, and Hicks Behind the bench, The Knights were led by 4th-year head coach Bruce Cassidy, who was making his 3rd appearance coaching in the finals. Back on the ice, they were led by captain Aidan Ellis, who put up 26 goals, 64 assists, and 90 points. As the team hoped would happen, the young core continued to grow—Left winger Chloe Lemaire led the team in scoring overall, with 54 goals, 57 assists, and 111 points. Maureen Fields and Emma Morgan had breakout years—Fields scored 25 goals put up 77 points, while Morgan scored 39 goals and 85 points. At the trade deadline, the Knights traded for centre Jimmy Reggiano from the Edmonton Oilers and Defenceman Logan Corbin from the New Jersey Devils.

Vegas finished the regular season with a record, placing second in the Pacific Divison for the second year in a row. The Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks in seven games in the first round, swept the number one seed Seattle Kraken in the second round, and beat the St. Louis Blues in six games to advance to the final.

2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs
The 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs was the playoff tournament of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s 2023-24 season. The playoff began on April 20, 2024, and ended on June 19 with the Nashville Predators winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

The Vegas Golden Knights earned 120 points during the regular season, following up their championship in 2023 by making the playoffs as the President's Trophy winners. The Philadelphia Flyers and Arizona Coyotes made the playoffs for the first time since 2020, while the Seattle Kraken qualified for the first time in franchise history. The Pittsburgh Penguins extended their playoff streak to 18 seasons, the longest active playoff streak in the NHL; The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs extended their streaks to 8 years in a row; Colorado made the playoffs for the 7th straight season. Florida, and Nashville, and Minnesota each qualified for the 4th consecutive season. Dallas, New York, and Vancouver returned for the third straight year. For the first time since 2017, the Tampa Bay Lightning missed the postseason.

Playoff Teams
Atlantic Division
 * 1) Boston Bruins, Atlantic Division champions, Eastern Conference regular season champions – 115 points (53–20–9)
 * 2) Toronto Maple Leafs – 112 points (53–23–6)
 * 3) Florida Panthers – 106 points (48–24–10)

Metropolitan Division
 * 1) Pittsburgh Penguins, Metropolitan Division champions – 108 points (51–25–6)
 * 2) New York Rangers – 103 points (46–25–11)
 * 3) New Jersey Devils – 100 points (45–27–10)

Wild cards
 * 1) Columbus Blue Jackets – 98 points (45–30–7)
 * 2) Philadelphia Flyers – 96 points (43–29–10)

Western Conference

Central Division
 * 1) Nashville Predators, Central Division champions – 113 points (53–22–7)
 * 2) Dallas Stars – 110 points (50–22–10)
 * 3) Arizona Coyotes – 103 points (47–26–9)

Pacific Division
 * 1) Vegas Golden Knights, Pacific Division champions, Western Conference regular season champions, President's Trophy Winners – 120 points (56–18–8)
 * 2) Vancouver Canucks – 117 points (53–18–11)
 * 3) Seattle Kraken – 102 points (47–27–8)

Wild cards
 * 1) Colorado Avalanche – 98 points (45–29–8)
 * 2) Minnesota Wild – 95 points (44–31–7)

Playoff Bracket
In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team was at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top three teams in each division made the playoffs, along with two wild cards in each conference, for a total of eight teams from each conference.

In the first round, the lower seeded wild card in the conference played against the division winner with the best record while the other wild card played against the other division winner, and both wild cards were de facto #4 seeds. The other series matched the second and third-place teams from the divisions. In the first two rounds, home-ice advantage was awarded to the team with the better seed. Thereafter, it was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.


 * Legend
 * A1, A2, A3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Atlantic Division, respectively
 * M1, M2, M3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Metropolitan Division, respectively
 * C1, C2, C3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Central Division, respectively
 * P1, P2, P3 – The first, second, and third place teams from the Pacific Division, respectively
 * WC – Wild Card teams

(A1) Boston Bruins vs. (WC2) Philadelphia Flyers
The Boston Bruins finished first in the Atlantic Division and first overall in the Eastern Conference with 115 points. The Philadelphia Flyers finished fifth in the Metropolitan Division with 96 points, enough for the second wild card in the East. This was the first playoff matchup between the teams since the 2011 Eastern Conference Semifinals, in which the Bruins swept the Flyers.

The Bruins defeated the Flyers in six games. In game one, the Bruins built an early 2–0 lead in the first—Philadelphia battled back, though, getting the score to 4–3 on Jamie Drysdale's goal 45 seconds into the third. After a back and forth third period, Bruins captain Jack Grzelcyk sealed a 5–3 win with an empty netter. In game 2, the Flyers raced out to a 3–0 lead in the first 11 minutes of the game. Boston fought back, tying the game 3–3 on Nadia Horvat's shorthanded goal with 5:16 to play and sending it to overtime. After a scoreless first OT and nearly all of the second, Emily Rolando finally ended it for Philadelphia with 3:04 left. With the series tied heading to Philadelphia, the Bruins locked in in game 3–they scored four goals in a span of 5:08 in the first period and rolled to a 5–1 victory. In game four, Boston again took an early lead, bringing another 2–0 lead into the first intermission. The second period was scoreless, but the Flyers found their rhythm in the third, bringing the game to a tie on a blast from Angelina Coppola and a short-handed goal by defenseman Jozsef Kovacs. Just 2:04 into overtime, Johanna Lemke tied the series for the Flyers. In game 5 in Boston, the Bruins built a 4–0 lead early in the third. Philadelphia got 2 back on powerplay goals from Rolando and Liam Gauthier, but the Bruins finished off the game on an empty netter from Mia Donio with 2:43 in regulation. With the Flyers facing elimination, they played the closest game of the series. With the score tied at 1 with 2:25 left, Angelina Cortellessa scored her first goal of the playoffs to give Boston a 1 goal lead. The Flyers failed to score with their net empty, and the Bruins advanced to the second round for the 7th year in a row.

(C1) Nashville Predators vs. (WC1) Colorado Avalanche
Nashville finished first the Central Division, with 113 points, while Colorado finished in fourth with 98 points—enough to earn them the West's top wild card spot. This was the third consecutive playoff meeting between these teams, with Nashville winning in last year's first round, 4–3. The previous year, Colorado swept the Predators in Round 1 en route to the Stanley Cup.

The Predators swept the Avalanche in dominant fashion to advance to the second round for the second year in a row. In game one, they scored 5 goals before the third period, cruising to a 5–1 win. In game two, they embarrassed Colorado 8–2 with another crushing offensive performance. In game three in Denver, the teams battled throughout, but the Predators pulled away in the final minutes with two empty netters for a 5–2 win and 3–0 series lead. Nashville rolled to a 6–2 victory in game 4, sweeping the series.

Bracket
Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Teams with home-court advantage (i.e., the higher-seeded team) are shown in italics. * Division winner

Bold Series winner

Italic Team with home-court advantage

(1) Boston Celtics vs. (8) Atlanta Hawks
While Atlanta trailed by 5 entering the second quarter, they'd quickly pull ahead in the second and distanced themselves from Boston in the third. Behind Trae Young's double-double, the Hawks rolled to a 14-point win on the road and took a 1-0 series lead

After a competitive first frame that saw Atlanta take a 3-point lead, Boston roared back in the second, outscoring the Hawks 46-25 en route to a 18 point halftime lead. Despite being up by 24 points with 9:58 left in regulation, the Celtics collapsed, allowing Atlanta to take a 123-122 lead with 4.1 seconds left on Saddiq Bey's corner 3. Jayson Tatum's game-winning attempt fell short, and Atlanta held on for a miraculous 2-0 series lead.

The Hawks dominated game three from the start, building a lead as big as 44 points before rolling to a 134-99 win. Dejounte Murray dropped a triple double, and Atlanta took 3-0 series lead.

With their backs up against the wall, Boston fought hard in game 4, keeping the game tied going into the 4th behind Jayson Tatum's 40 points. However, Young, Murray, and the Hawks pulled away in the 4th, outscoring the Celtics by seven points and sealing the series sweep. The Hawks made history by becoming the first 8-seed to sweep a 1 seed, while the Celtics dropped to 11-16 following their 50-9 start to the regular season, cementing a historic collapse.

This was the 14th playoff meeting between the two teams, with the most recent being a 4-2 series win for the Celtics in 2023.

(2) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (7) New York Knicks
This was just the second playoff meeting between the two teams. The first came in 1970, with the Knicks defeating the Bucks in five games in the East Division Finals.