Hobey Baker Award: Top 10 candidates

Minnesota Duluth junior Scott Perunovich is a Hobey Baker Memorial favorite. (Terry Norton/UMD)

The debate over who will win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given annually to college hockey’s top player, is always intriguing.

Four out of the last five winners have come from teams in Massachusetts, including last year when Cale Makar of the Minutemen took home top billing. Boston University’s Jack Eichel (2015), Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey (2016) and Northeastern’s Adam Gaudette (2018) were the other recent winners from local colleges.

The 2020 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner will likely come from a school outside of Massachusetts, but it is possible New England will be represented in the Hat Trick Finalists. Keeping in mind that there is still plenty of hockey to be played, the winner and the hat trick finalists are no-brainers to me, if it was decided today.