Beginning with the 1993-94 season, the club which advances to the Stanley Cup Final as the winner of the Eastern Conference Championship is presented with the Prince of Wales Trophy. History: His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, donated the trophy to the National Hockey League in 1925. It was originally awarded to the winner of the first game played in Madison Square Garden, December 15, 1925 (Montreal Canadiens 3 at NY Americans 1). It was then awarded to the NHL playoff champion in 1925-26 and 1926-27. From 1927-28 through 1937-38, the award was presented to the regular-season champion of the American Division of the NHL. (The team finishing first in the Canadian Division received the O’Brien Trophy during these years.) From 1938-39, when the NHL reverted to one section, to 1966-67, it was presented to the team winning the NHL regular-season championship. With expansion in 1967-68, it again became a divisional trophy, awarded to the regular-season champions of the East Division through to the end of the 1973-74 season. Beginning in 1974-75, it was awarded to the regular-season winner of the conference bearing the name of the trophy. From 1981-82 to 1992-93 the trophy was presented to the playoff champion in the Wales Conference. Since 1993-94, the trophy has been presented to the playoff champion in the Eastern Conference.

The Prince of Wales Trophy was first announced in December 1925. The trophy, sponsored by the Prince of Wales and bearing the royal coat of arms cost $2,500, and was to be in the possession of the league champion.With the expansion of the NHL in 1967, and the creation of the Western Division, the Wales Trophy was given to the team that finished in first place in the Eastern Division, during the regular season. When the league formed two conferences in 1974, the cup transferred to the team that finished with the best regular season record in the Wales Conference, until 1981, when the NHL changed its playoff format so that the two teams meeting in the Stanley Cup finals could no longer come from the same conference, and the Prince of Wales Trophy was presented to the Wales Conference playoff champions. By 1994, the trophy was awarded to the Eastern Conference playoff champions.