Avalanche clinch Presidents’ Trophy

Colorado didn’t just lock up a playoff spot. It finished first in the entire National Hockey League on April 9 by beating Calgary 3-1, which gave the Avalanche the Presidents’ Trophy and home ice through the Stanley Cup Final if they get that far. (nhl.com) That clinching game ran through Nathan MacKinnon. He scored his league-leading 52nd goal and added two assists against the Flames at Ball Arena, while Colorado held Calgary to one goal. (nhl.com) The Presidents’ Trophy is the National Hockey League award for the best regular-season record, not the playoff champion. Think of it as finishing first after the 82-game marathon before the four-round sprint for the Stanley Cup begins. (nhl.com) For Colorado, this was the fourth Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history after 1997, 2001, 2021, and now 2026. The Avalanche also became the first team to secure the top seed for this year’s postseason field. (nytimes.com) By April 10, the official standings showed Colorado at 114 points, ahead of Carolina at 108 in the Eastern Conference and ahead of the rest of the Western Conference field. That gap is why the Avalanche can’t be caught for first overall. (nhl.com) The Eastern Conference race was tighter a day later than the fight for first overall. Buffalo led the Atlantic Division with 106 points, while Montreal sat at 104 with one game in hand, which means the Sabres controlled first place but had almost no room to slip. (nhl.com) That Buffalo-Montreal chase matters because the top three teams in each division get automatic playoff berths, and the division winner gets the cleaner path on paper. Tampa Bay was right behind both clubs at 102 points, so one bad night could still reshuffle the Atlantic bracket. (nhl.com) The wild-card line in the East was even messier. Ottawa held the second wild-card spot with 94 points on April 10, while Detroit and the New York Islanders were both on 91 and Columbus was on 90, leaving four teams jammed within four points for one place. (nhl.com) The Western Conference had less drama at the very top because Colorado had already settled that argument, but the rest of the board was still moving. National Hockey League playoff updates on April 10 described a 14-game Thursday slate with postseason implications across both conferences, not just for who gets in but for who starts on the road. (nhl.com) So the headline is two races moving at different speeds at once: Colorado already owns first place in the league, while Buffalo is still trying to hold off Montreal for the Atlantic Division and several Eastern teams are still fighting for the last invitation. The regular season’s top team is decided, but much of the bracket around it is still being written game by game. (nhl.com)