After a muddled start for the Carolina Hurricanes, they're now back where they belong: at the top of the league.
After defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, the Canes now sit just one point back in the Presidents' Trophy race.
But there's a catch.
They're one of seven teams currently between 97 and 98 points.
The Hurricanes, along with the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins are all jockeying for position in what very well could be the closest race ever.
Not many saw this coming from the Canes after a slow start to the year. The team started 14-12-1 in the first 27 games, were getting some of the worst goaltending in the league and the team was calling guys out for a lack of effort.
Things looked on course for an epic flameout.
But the team turned it all around.
Since Dec. 12, the team is 31-8-6 and has been a force on every side of the puck. The goaltending has been stupendous, the defense has been stalwart and the goals are piling up.
Then they went and added two high-end players at the deadline and now the team looks like world beaters.
The Hurricanes are now in position to be one of the first team's to clinch a playoff berth this season depending on how tonight's slate of games goes.
The Hurricanes have never captured the Presidents' Trophy as the league's top regular season team either in team or franchise history.
They've come close over the last few seasons (I mean, they did win their division for three straight years for one), but perhaps this could be the year they do it.
A lot of people will point to what they call the Presidents' Trophy 'curse,' but that's only been a recent phenomenon.
The last team to capture both the Presidents' Trophy and Stanley Cup in the same season was the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
Since then, there's been a mixed bag of results for teams that finish first.
But over the course of the entire history of the Presidents' Trophy, 20% of the winners have also won the Stanley Cup in the same season.
There's just a lot of league parity and it's really hard to win a Stanley Cup. It's not a curse.
So go for the hardware. Why not. Obviously it's not the goal, but it also doesn't hurt to have it.