The Prince of Wales Trophy, or simply the Wales Trophy, is a National Hockey League (NHL) trophy awarded to the Eastern Conference (formerly the Wales Conference) playoff champions. The trophy is awarded prior to the final series which are the championship games to decide the winner for the Stanley Cup against the Western Conference's champions. The trophy was first established in the 1923-24 NHL season, for the champion of the NHL playoffs, but it has been the trophy for eight different accomplishments, which also include being the NHL regular season champions, American Division regular season champions, regular season champions, East Division regular season champions, Wales Conference regular season champions, Wales Conference playoffs champions, and Eastern Conference playoffs champions. The current holder of the Prince of Wales Trophy is the Tampa Bay Lightning after defeating the New York Rangers in the 2015 Eastern Conference finals.