Prince of Wales Trophy

The Prince of Wales Trophy, also known as the Wales Trophy, is a team award presented by the National Hockey League (NHL). Named for Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor), it has been awarded for different accomplishments throughout its history.

The trophy was first presented on December 15, 1925, to the winner of the first game in Madison Square Garden. That was also the last season for which the Stanley Cup was not yet exclusive to the NHL, so the trophy was presented to that season's NHL playoffs championand retroactively presented to the playoff champion of the previous two NHL seasons. The Wales Trophy was then awarded to the champion of the American Division (1927–1938) and later the NHL regular season champions (1938–1967). Since the 1967 NHL expansion, it has served as a counterpart to the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl by using the same criteria in the opposite competitive grouping. The Wales Trophy has been awarded to the East Division regular season champions (1967–1974), the Wales Conference regular season champions (1974–1981), the Wales Conference playoff champions (1981–1993), and the Eastern Conference playoff champions (1993–2020, 2021–present). duplicating the already existing O'Brien Cup for that purpose. To introduce the new trophy into the NHL, it was awarded as a place keeper to the winner of the first game played in Madison Square Garden, held on December 15, 1925 (Montreal Canadiens 3 at New York Americans 1). The trophy was held onto by the Canadiens until the end of the season, when it was presented, for the first time, for its founding purposeto honour the NHL playoff champion. While the new trophy was in their possession, the Canadienswho had been the O'Brien Cup-winning NHL playoff championships in and retroactively engraved their name on the trophy for those seasons.

The Prince of Wales Trophy was then awarded to the NHL playoff champion in and , along with the pre-existing O'Brien Cup, before that team would go on to face the Western Hockey League (WHL) champion for the Stanley Cup at the end of those seasons. From the in on, the trophy was awarded to the champion of the American Division of the NHL, while the O'Brien Cup was presented to the Canadian Division champion, until 1938, when, after the NHL reverted to a single division, the Wales Trophy was made the award for the overall regular season champion.

The NHL abolished the conferences and re-aligned the league into four new divisions for the 2020–21 NHL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the semifinal round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs was contested between the winners of the divisional playoffs and they were seeded according to their regular season record. Initially the trophy was not going to be awarded, but it was later decided that the trophy would be awarded to the winner of the Stanley Cup semifinals series between the East and Central divisions, eventually being the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Winners

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; float:right;"

|+ Total awards won

|-

! width="55"|Wins

! width="145"|Team

|-

| 25

| Montreal Canadiens

|-

| 18

| Boston Bruins

|-

| 13

| Detroit Red Wings

|-

| 6

| Pittsburgh Penguins

|-

| rowspan="2"|5

| New Jersey Devils

|-

| Tampa Bay Lightning

|-

| rowspan="3"|4

| Florida Panthers

|-

| New York Rangers

|-

| Philadelphia Flyers

|-

| rowspan="3"|3

| Buffalo Sabres

|-

| Carolina Hurricanes

|-

| New York Islanders

|-

| rowspan="3"|2

| Chicago Blackhawks

|-

| Toronto Maple Leafs

|-

| Washington Capitals

|-

| rowspan="3"|1

| Montreal Maroons

|-

| Ottawa Senators

|-

| Ottawa Senators (original)

|}

;Key

• – Defunct team
• – Eventual Stanley Cup champions
• ^a – Engraved in 1925–26.