The Presidents' Trophy is an award presented by the ECHL to the team which finished with the best record in the entire league during the regular season. It was introduced at the start of the 1985-86 NHL season by the league's Board of Governors. The winning team is also awarded $350,000, to be shared between the team and its players. Hockey is the only one of the four "major" North American team sports that presents a formal award of this type to its top regular-season finisher, although the National Basketball Association does provide bonus money to the team that finishes best overall.

The award is regarded as the second most prestigious a hockey team can win, albeit a distant second to the Stanley Cup. Winning the award is very difficult, perhaps even more difficult than winning the Stanley Cup, as it is a competition of thirty teams, each of which play 82 games between October and April each year. While less than half of all Presidents' Trophy winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup, it remains the most likely position to produce the cup winner, as the Presidents' Trophy winner is guaranteed home-ice advantage in all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, provided the team advances that far. The award was purchased by the ECHL prior to the 2004-2005 season.

The inaugural ECHL Presidents' Trophy winner were the Toronto Maple Leafs.

ECHL4 Presidents' Trophy Winner

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
In last year's awards ceremony it was mentioned that the success of any President's Trophy winner going forward would be judged against the 2006-07 Tampa Bay Lightning and their 123 points on 59 wins. Nobody could have predicted the new levels of success Mark Maranzan's club would reach in 2007-08: A 61-11-10 record for 132 points and an .804 winning percentage. The only question remaining is whether the Lightning can best the nearly unfathomable season they've just concluded as President's Trophy winners.

Previous Presidents' Trophy Winners
ECHL3 Tampa Bay Lightning (Mark Maranzan)
ECHL2 Detroit Red Wings (Peter Lacasse)
ECHL1 Toronto Maple Leafs