Clarence S. Campbell Bowl

Lore & Background

The Clarence S. Campbell Bowl was donated by the NHL's clubs in recognition of the contributions and services of its namesake, the League President at the start of the Modern Era expansion. Throughout its history it has been a parallel to the Prince of Wales Trophy, using the same criteria in the opposite competitive grouping. From its inception in the 1967–68 season through to 1973–74 it was awarded to the first-place finisher in the West Division during the regular season. With NHL realignment in 1974–75, it was given to the team with the best regular season record in the Campbell Conference through the 1980–81 season. Beginning with the 1981–82 season, it switched to the Campbell Conference playoff champions, and since the 1993–94 season, when the Campbell Conference became the Western Conference, the trophy has gone to the Western Conference playoff champions.

A traditional superstition prevalent among many NHL players is that no player should touch or hoist the Campbell Bowl after winning the conference playoffs, as they feel the Stanley Cup is the true championship trophy. Instead, the captain of the winning team merely poses, usually looking solemn, with the trophy, and sometimes the entire team poses as well. However, some teams have ignored the superstition and hoisted the conference trophy and then went on to win the Cup anyway.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHL temporarily suspended conferences and re-aligned the league into four temporary divisions for the 2020–21 season. The Campbell Bowl was awarded to the winner of the Stanley Cup semifinals between the North and West divisions. The Montreal Canadiens, normally an Eastern Conference team, defeated the Vegas Golden Knights to win their first and only Campbell Bowl in their history.

Reader's Guide

The Clarence S. Campbell Bowl holds significance as a longstanding NHL team award that has evolved in purpose alongside league expansion and realignment. Originally a regular season divisional prize, it later became a conference regular season award, then a conference playoff championship trophy, and finally the Western Conference playoff championship trophy. Its parallel history with the Prince of Wales Trophy reflects the NHL's competitive structure since 1967. The trophy's legacy includes a notable superstition among players who avoid touching or hoisting it, reserving that honor for the Stanley Cup. The 2021 season marked an unusual exception when the trophy was awarded to the Montreal Canadiens, an Eastern Conference team, due to a modified playoff format caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This event underscores the trophy's adaptability within the NHL's changing landscape.

Did You Know?

• The Campbell Bowl was donated by the NHL's clubs in recognition of Clarence Campbell's service as League President.
• From 1967–68 to 1973–74, the trophy was awarded to the West Division regular season champions.
• In 2021, the Montreal Canadiens, normally an Eastern Conference team, won the Campbell Bowl after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup semifinals.
• A traditional superstition holds that players should not touch or hoist the Campbell Bowl, as the Stanley Cup is considered the true championship trophy.

Origins and the Man Behind the Name

The Clarence S. Campbell Bowl traces its existence to a gesture of gratitude from the NHL's member clubs. The trophy was donated by those clubs as a way to honor Clarence Campbell, who held the position of League President from the 1946–47 season all the way through 1976–77. His tenure encompassed the pivotal moment when the league embarked on its Modern Era expansion, and the clubs wanted to formally recognize the contributions and services he rendered during that transformative period. The award first appeared on the ice during the 1967–68 season, coinciding with the 1967 expansion that reshaped the league's competitive structure. From that point forward, the Campbell Bowl was designed to function as the western counterpart to the Prince of Wales Trophy, applying identical selection criteria to the opposite competitive grouping. This parallel structure meant that whichever team topped the western half of the league would receive the Campbell, while the eastern champion would take home the Prince of Wales, creating a natural symmetry in the NHL's award landscape.

A Trophy That Kept Changing Its Mind

Over more than five decades, the Campbell Bowl has shifted its qualifying criteria four separate times, mirroring the NHL's repeated attempts to reorganize its competitive structure. From its 1967–68 debut through the 1973–74 season, the award went to whichever club finished first in the West Division during the regular season. When the league realigned in 1974–75, the West Division was absorbed into the larger Campbell Conference, and the trophy followed suit, now recognizing the team with the best regular season record in that conference through 1980–81. A more dramatic shift arrived in 1981–82, when the award transitioned from a regular-season honor to a playoff one, going to the Campbell Conference playoff champions. That arrangement lasted until 1993–94, when the Campbell Conference was rebranded as the Western Conference, and the trophy has since been presented to the Western Conference playoff champions, a formula that continued through 2020 and resumed in 2022. Throughout every iteration, the Campbell Bowl maintained its role as the direct mirror of the Prince of Wales Trophy on the opposite side of the league.

The Year Montreal Won a Western Trophy

The 2020–21 season produced the most unusual Campbell Bowl recipient in the award's history. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to suspend its conferences and restructure the league into four temporary divisions, fundamentally altering the playoff bracket. In this modified format, the semifinal round pitted the winners of the divisional playoffs against each other, with seeding determined by regular season records. Initially, the league had no plans to present the Campbell Bowl at all given the disrupted structure. However, a decision was later made to award it to the winner of the Stanley Cup semifinal between the North and West divisions. That matchup featured the Montreal Canadiens, the sole Eastern Conference team placed in that half of the bracket, against the Vegas Golden Knights. Montreal emerged victorious, claiming a Campbell Bowl that was, barring any future format changes, the only one in their franchise history. For a team long associated with the Prince of Wales Trophy, the 2021 trophy stood as a singular and strange footnote.

The Superstition of the Solemn Pose

Among NHL players, a deeply held superstition governs how the Campbell Bowl is treated after a conference playoff victory. The prevailing belief is that no player should touch or hoist the conference trophy, whether it is the Campbell or its eastern counterpart, the Prince of Wales. In the minds of many players, the Stanley Cup remains the singular championship, and hoisting a conference trophy is seen as jinxing the run or diminishing the Cup's supremacy. As a result, the customary ritual is remarkably understated: the captain of the winning team simply poses with the Campbell Bowl, typically wearing a solemn expression, and occasionally the full roster gathers for a group photo. The trophy is held, not lifted. Yet this tradition is not universal. There have been instances where teams have defied the superstition, hoisting the conference trophy in celebration and then proceeding to capture the Stanley Cup as well, suggesting that the old wives' tale may hold less power than the locker room believes.