The Edmonton Oilers stuck with recent tradition and did not touch the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly presented the trophy to Oilers captain Connor McDavid following a 2-1 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday. McDavid did not touch the bowl before he and his teammates posed for photos with it.
“We didn’t really talk about it at all until the end of the game there,” McDavid said. “I know [the Panthers] didn’t touch [the Prince of Wales Trophy]. We didn’t touch it. Someone’s going to win (the Stanley Cup).”
Only two teams have touched the bowl since 2006-07. The Colorado Avalanche did so in 2022 before going on to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the Cup Final. The only other team to do so was the Vegas Golden Knights, who would lose in five games to the Washington Capitals in the 2018 Cup Final.
In 2020-21, the Montreal Canadiens did not touch the bowl but lost to the Lightning in five games in the Final. The Canadiens, who normally play in the Eastern Conference, were awarded the bowl after defeating the Golden Knights in what was called the Stanley Cup Semifinals because of the temporary divisional realignment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last season, the Golden Knights did not touch it and went on to win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Florida Panthers in five games.
Of the 15 teams that did not touch the bowl in the previous 17 seasons, nine went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The last time Edmonton made the Stanley Cup Final, back in 2006, captain Jason Smith did not touch the trophy, and the Oilers lost in seven games to the Carolina Hurricanes.
“There wasn’t a whole of discussion,” Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. “It just came about it. Obviously, we’ve never been in this situation. We didn’t talk about it before and that was the decision.”
The Clarence S. Campbell Bowl has been awarded to the Western Conference champion since the 1993-94 season.
The Eastern Conference champion has been awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy since 1993-94.
Edmonton will play Florida in the Stanley Cup Final with Game 1 on June 8 (ABC, ESPN+, SN, CBC, TVAS). The Panthers defeated the Rangers 2-1 in Game 6 on Saturday in the Eastern Conference Final to win that series.
NHL.com staff writer Derek Van Diest contributed to this report
