TheNational Hockey League (NHL) conference finals are theEastern Conference andWestern Conference championship series of theNHL. The conference finals are each a best-of-seven series, and comprise the third round of theStanley Cup playoffs. The two series are played in mid-to-late May (early June in 1995 and 2013, due to labour disputes that delayed the start of the season and September in 2020 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic). The winners of the Eastern and Western Conference finals receive thePrince of Wales Trophy andClarence S. Campbell Bowl, respectively, and advance to face each other in theStanley Cup Finals.
Before the1967–68 season, the NHL was made up only of asingle division. From the 1967–68 season through the1973–74 season, the NHL was made up of two divisions (as opposed to conferences), theEast Division and theWest Division.
Following the 1973–74 season, the NHL again realigned. The East and West Divisions were renamed thePrince of Wales andClarence Campbell Conferences, respectively. At the time, the new conferences and divisions had little to do with North American geography and geographical references were removed. Furthermore, all playoff teams were seeded regardless of conference.
Beginning in the1981–82 season, the conferences and the playoffs were realigned. The NHL was hoping to reduce travel costs in the face of a struggling economy and high energy prices. The regular season and playoffs were also altered to emphasize divisional match-ups. Thus, the first official conference finals were held in 1982.
Beginning in the1993–94 season, the names of conferences and divisions were changed to reflect their geographic locations. At the instigation of then-newNHL commissionerGary Bettman, the NHL made the change to help non-hockey fans better understand the game, as theNational Basketball Association uses geographic-based names for their conferences and divisions, and theNational Football League, andMajor League Baseball use geographic-based names for their divisions. Therefore, the Campbell Conference became the Western Conference and the Wales Conference became the Eastern Conference. The winner of the Eastern Conference finals still receives thePrince of Wales Trophy, while the winner of the Western Conference finals still receives theClarence S. Campbell Bowl. The only exception to this practice was the pandemic-affected2020–21 season that was played without conferences.[1] The league decided in June 2021 to award the trophies (one per team) to the two victors of the Stanley Cup semifinals.[2] After that season, the league revived the conferences for the2021–22 season.
TheHartford Whalers never advanced to a conference final; however, after they relocated to become theCarolina Hurricanes, they did so six times (2002 as the eventual Cup finalists, 2006 as the eventual Cup champions, 2009, 2019, 2023, and 2025). The originalWinnipeg Jets never appeared in the conference finals, and after moving to become thePhoenix Coyotes, the franchise did not even win a playoff series until the2012 Stanley Cup playoffs when they advanced to the conference finals. Of the 32 teams in the NHL, only theColumbus Blue Jackets,Seattle Kraken, andUtah Mammoth have never appeared in the conference finals.
Another tradition (or rather superstition) that is prevalent among today's NHL players is that no player should touch the Cup itself until his team has rightfully won the Cup.[3] Adding to this superstition is some players' choice to neither touch nor hoist the conference trophies (Clarence S. Campbell Bowl andPrince of Wales Trophy) when these series have been won; the players feel that the Stanley Cup is the true championship trophy, and only it should be hoisted.[4][5]
However, in 1994,Stephane Matteau, then of theNew York Rangers, admitted that he tapped the Wales Trophy with his stick's blade before the overtime period in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.[6] Matteau subsequently scored the game-winning goal in double overtime against theNew Jersey Devils. Following the game,Mark Messier, the captain of the Rangers, picked up and raised the Wales Trophy after it was awarded to the team.[7] After winning the Western Conference,Vancouver Canucks captainTrevor Linden lifted the Campbell Bowl.[8] The Rangers prevailed over the Canucks in a seven-game series to win the Cup.
Scott Stevens andMartin Brodeur hoisted the conference trophy as well in 2000, after the New Jersey Devils came back from a 3–1 series deficit to defeat thePhiladelphia Flyers in seven games; the Devils would go on to defeat theDallas Stars (who touched but did not lift their conference trophy)[9] in the Stanley Cup Finals. Stevens then also touched the trophy in 2003, after defeating theOttawa Senators in seven games. Not only touching, Stevens picked up the trophy and made his team take a photo with it. The Devils went on to defeat theMighty Ducks of Anaheim four games to three in the2003 Stanley Cup Finals.
In 2002, theCarolina Hurricanes hoisted the Prince of Wales Trophy after they won their conference title;[10] the Hurricanes lost their Finals series with theDetroit Red Wings four games to one.Steve Yzerman, captain of the Red Wings during their 1997, 1998 and 2002 Stanley Cup victories, picked up the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl each time, to the delight of the home fans inJoe Louis Arena.[11] The Hurricanes changed course in 2006, refusing to touch the Wales Trophy before defeating theEdmonton Oilers in the Cup Final.
The superstition held true in 2004, asJarome Iginla of theCalgary Flames grabbed the Campbell Bowl, butDave Andreychuk of theTampa Bay Lightning refused to touch the Prince of Wales Trophy; the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in seven games. The Campbell Bowl would not be picked up on the ice again until it was won by the first-yearVegas Golden Knights in 2018.
In 2007,Daniel Alfredsson andWade Redden of the Ottawa Senators touched and picked up the Prince of Wales Trophy, respectively, but Anaheim Ducks captainScott Niedermayer never came close to the Campbell Bowl; the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in five games. Steve Yzerman, captain of the Detroit Red Wings during their 1997, 1998, and 2002 Stanley Cup victories, picked up the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl each time, though his successorNicklas Lidstrom did not touch it en route to a 2008 Stanley Cup victory.Scott Stevens hoisted the Prince of Wales Trophy during the Devils' other two Stanley Cup-winning seasons in 1995 and 2003. In 2009, 2016, and 2017,Sidney Crosby and other members of thePittsburgh Penguins carried and posed with the Prince of Wales Trophy before going on to win the Stanley Cup. At the close of the 2010 Eastern Conference finals, Philadelphia Flyers captainMike Richards picked up the Wales Trophy.Jonathan Toews,Chicago Blackhawks captain, did not touch the Campbell Bowl, and the Blackhawks went on to defeat the Flyers in six games for the 2010 Stanley Cup.
In 2012,Los Angeles Kings captainDustin Brown and the rest of the team refused to touch the Campbell Bowl after winning the conference finals against the Phoenix Coyotes. The team did not take the Campbell Bowl trophy on the plane back to Los Angeles. Instead,Tim Leiweke, president and CEO ofAnschutz Entertainment Group (the parent of the Los Angeles Kings), drove the trophy in his car trunk from Phoenix to Los Angeles and showed it to the more-than 10,000 fans that waited atLAX Airport to show their support to their Stanley Cup finalists, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
In 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks took a team photo with the Campbell Bowl after winning Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference finals against the Anaheim Ducks at theHonda Center in Anaheim. The Blackhawks would end up defeating theTampa Bay Lightning in six games in the2015 Stanley Cup Finals.[12] In 2018, Capitals captainAlexander Ovechkin hoisted the Wales trophy after winning the Eastern Conference finals, before ultimately defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in five games to win the Stanley Cup.[13] In 2020, Tampa Bay Lightning captainSteven Stamkos and his teammates lifted the Prince of Wales Trophy after winning the Eastern Conference finals. Head coachJon Cooper stated "we win a trophy, we pick it up",[14] whileVictor Hedman acknowledged that not touching the trophy in 2015 "didn't work".[15] The Lightning went on to defeat the Dallas Stars in six games in the Stanley Cup Finals. Stamkos picked up the Prince of Wales Trophy again in 2021 after the Lightning defeated theNew York Islanders in the semifinals, and Tampa Bay defended the Stanley Cup by defeating theMontreal Canadiens in five games.
TheColorado Avalanche won three Stanley Cups in their history, and on each occasion, they hoisted the Campbell Bowl. In 2001 (Devils) and 2022 (Lightning), the Avalanche and their Final opponent both hoisted their respective conference titles. In 1996, however, theFlorida Panthers refused to touch the trophy. The Panthers then changed course upon winning the Wales Trophy for the second time in 2023, but lost to the Golden Knights, who ended up not hoisting the Campbell Bowl in a change of heart from 2018. That said, the Panthers would follow Vegas' lead in their subsequent Cup Final appearances, refusing to carry the Wales Trophy in both 2024 and 2025 en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
TheEdmonton Oilers dynasty underWayne Gretzky andMark Messier touched the Campbell Bowl en route to their five Cup titles during the 1980s. In 2006, however, then-captainJason Smith did not touch the bowl, and the Oilers lost to the Hurricanes in the Cup Final. After winning the Campbell in 2024, captainConnor McDavid decided not to hold the trophy, but the Oilers lost in the Final to Florida. Then in 2025, McDavid decided to touch the trophy in hopes of replicating the 1980s dynasty teams' success, but they still lost to the Panthers in a Final rematch.
Legend: CF = Conference finals; SCF = Stanley Cup Finals;bolded year denotes win;italicized denotes active series
Note: The Colorado Avalanche's totals include two conference finals appearances as theQuebec Nordiques (both losses), and the Dallas Stars' totals include two conference finals appearances as theMinnesota North Stars (one win; subsequent Stanley Cup Finals loss). The Arizona Coyotes' only conference finals appearance was in 2012 as the Phoenix Coyotes. TheColumbus Blue Jackets,Seattle Kraken andUtah Mammoth remain the only active NHL teams to have never advanced to the conference finals.
In addition to a spot in the Stanley Cup Final, the winner of the Golden Knights–Canadiens series will claim the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl, while the Islanders–Lightning will battle for the Prince of Wales Trophy.
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