NHL Regular-Season Awards President's Trophy Odds & Lines

The National Hockey League consists of 32 teams, within two conferences and four divisions, competing for the ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.

After the 82-game regular season ends, the playoffs start, consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven games to decide the winner of the Stanley Cup.

However, the Stanley Cup is not the only trophy a team can win throughout the season. A regular-season trophy is awarded to the team with the most points, called the Presidents’ Trophy.

In each game a team can earn three points for a win, two per overtime win, one for a loss in overtime, and zero in a loss.

What is the NHL Regular Season Awards – Presidents’ Trophy?

Like the Stanley Cup, NHL lines are created before the season starts to allow fans and bettors to place money on a team to win the Presidents’ Trophy.

It is difficult to pick the one team that will win the trophy. The team must be the best in the league over all 82 games and rarely hit a slump during the regular season.

It was first awarded in the 1985–86 season, with the Edmonton Oilers winning. Since then, 18 different teams have won the award, with the Detroit Red Wings winning it the most times, six.

If two teams are tied at the end of the season, the one with the most wins receives the trophy.

How does the NHL Regular Season Awards – Presidents’ Trophy work?

Only one team can win the President’s Trophy, so it often looks like preseason Stanley Cup odds. There is a list of all 32 teams, and they are all ranked by their NHL Vegas odds, from most likely to win to least likely.

No team is truly an overwhelming favorite at the start of the season, making it the best time to place a wager. As games are played, the odds will adjust to how they are playing.

The team’s NHL odds are based on the previous year’s success, how they competed in the playoffs, and if the team improved or got worse during the offseason. It tries to predict how good a team will be in the regular season.

Prop Bets

Betting on who will win the Presidents’ Trophy is a prop bet of its own. It allows you to bet on something outside a single game specific outcome.

The bet takes the entire season to close and is available to be placed at any time, but the best time is probably before the season starts.

Like other future season-long prop bets, they can be parlayed with another one. Allowing you to make bets surrounding one team, wagering on a team’s playoff chances, Stanley Cup odds, win totals, and point totals.

Betting Strategy

Making a good, educated prediction of who will win the Presidents’ Trophy takes a lot of understanding of the NHL season, the teams, and the players. Looking over a team’s offseason and success in prior seasons.

If a team was a few points behind from winning the trophy last season but improved the roster or got players back from injuries, they could close the gap and win the trophy the following year.

A Lot of Research

So much goes into a team having an excellent regular season: the coach, players, regular season trades, depth on the roster, and consistent goalie play. The team pretty much has to be the best on the ice just about every night for all three periods.

Finding a team you feel confident enough to place a wager on takes a lot of understanding of all 32 teams in the NHL.

Knowing what teams got better, having a young star coming up in the lines, who will make a necessary trade to alter their season, and predicting possible injuries.

There are so many variables that could change a winning bet into a loss, and with only one winner of the President’s Trophy, you have to make sure you got the right one.

Pair Your Bet With Other Futures

Say you have done all your research and are confident that a team will win the Presidents’ Trophy. You can use all the research you already did to parlay your bet with other season-long futures surrounding the team, focusing on team and player success. This could turn a solid pay out into a much bigger one.

Parlaying your bet on a team to win the Presidents’ Trophy, with one of their players leading the league in goals or points, could only increase your winnings.

The same can be done with team stats, picking a team to go over their win or point total during the regular season.

Few Repeat Winners

Being the top point earner in the NHL is hard enough to do just once, with only 18 teams able to do so. Winning it in consecutive years is harder, with that only happening six times in the trophy’s history.

That means, more likely than not, the team that won it the year before will likely not win it again. That does help a little when placing a wager on a team.

However, it still does happen sometimes, which makes understanding a team’s offseason crucial. The race is also genuinely close, with teams winning the trophy by a margin of 10 or more just seven times.

Maybe Wait a Week

Future season-long bets like this can be extremely tricky. Anything can happen in an NHL season as it plays out. Players can get injured, new players may not connect with a team, or a slow start could derail an entire season.

The best odds are available before the beginning of the season, but they probably won’t change that much a week or two into the regular season.

If you don’t have a team, you feel confident in placing a wager on before the season starts. Maybe wait a little to see how they play.

The odds might shift a little, possibly having you lose some of the money you could win, but you would be more confident in your bet.

Select a Different Stanley Cup Winner

Finding success in the regular season and the playoffs is difficult in the NHL. The playoffs are incredibly hard to predict due to the pure chaos that can happen.

That is reflected in the fact that the winner of the President’s Trophy has won the Stanley Cup eight times since the award was created.

Many variables go into regular season success, from depth and staying healthy, to having a good enough team to win nearly every game.

Heading into the playoffs after winning the Presidents’ Trophy can be difficult due to the expectations and the toll a long season has on a team.