Presidents’ Trophy “Curse” won’t be what stops Bruins from winning the Stanley Cup

BOSTON — The Bruins secured the Presidents’ Trophy on Thursday night as the NHL’s best team. It’s rather impressive, considering two weeks still remain in the regular season. Teams have between six and eight games left on their schedules, but none of them will be catching the Bruins in the standings.

It’s a positive thing, no doubt, but the capturing of that Presidents’ Trophy is certain to bring about discussion, dismay, and disgust at the potential for the Presidents’ Trophy CURSE dooming this Bruins season.

That is, of course, poppycock.

And that is because … CURSES AREN’T REAL! Nor are jinxes or hexes. Despite superstition being an ailment of the human condition, it’s not actually real.

The application of the term “curse” doesn’t even fit in this instance, either, because eight Presidents’ Trophy winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup in the 36 years it’s been awarded. That means 22 percent of Presidents’ Trophy winners end up winning the Stanley Cup. What kind of “curse” only works 78 percent of the time?

It is true that a Presidents’ Trophy winner hasn’t won the Cup since the 2013 Blackhawks, and it’s also true that only two Presidents’ Trophy winners have won the Cup since the 2004-05 lockout. Undeniable.

But … the Presidents’ Trophy winners also won the Stanley Cup in three of four years from 1999-2002. And three Presidents’ Trophy winners also won the Cup three times from 1987-94.

It’s certainly noticeable that the league is going on a decade without a Presidents’ Trophy winner going on win the Cup. But the overall history doesn’t really match the mystique. And this largely symbolic accomplishment will not be what prevents the Bruins from winning the Stanley Cup.

If the Bruins come up short in that quest, it will be for one reason and one reason only: Winning the Stanley Cup is exceptionally hard. The grind of winning four seven-game series, against teams that are sacrificing bodies and leaving every ounce of effort on the ice every single night, in months eight and nine of a long season — it’s a lot. It’s a brutal, hellish gauntlet, no matter how good a team might have been from October through mid-April.

That’s why the Stanley Cup is regarded so highly as one of the most difficult crowns to capture in all of team sports. That is why players get emotional just talking about it. It’s a special thing, and it’s hard to achieve.

A bigger issue than a “curse” for the Bruins right now is their power play, which has been the third-worst power play in the entire NHL since late January at just 12.2 percent. The clock is ticking for them to calibrate their man advantage before the games really matter.

Outside of that, the presumed third line of Taylor Hall, Charlie Coyle and Tyler Bertuzzi has yet to skate together. Nick Foligno’s injury status remains unclear. Despite three exceptional defensemen, there’s still some fair questions to ask about the rest of the D corps in the playoffs. And despite absurd performances in net all year, Jeremy Swayman or Linus Ullmark own a combined 3-5 record in their limited playoff history.

If you want to pinpoint where the Bruins might stumble on the arduous journey that lies ahead, you could start there. But not with a “curse.” That’s childish.

So, yes, outside of the home-ice advantage that comes with it, being the best regular-season team won’t automatically give the Bruins major assistance in capturing the second Stanley Cup for Boston in the last half-century. But it’s also not going to bring about certain doom.

Because curses aren’t real.