Max Plante Wins 2026 Hobey Baker Award

After the Frozen Four tournament was whittled down to two on Thursday with Denver and Wisconsin moving on to the final on Saturday, there was other business to attend to on Friday off the ice with the presentation of the Hobey Baker Award.  Given to the top player in college hockey, this year’s winner is University of Minnesota-Duluth sophomore Max Plante, a prospect of the Red Wings.

The sophomore was a second-round pick by Detroit back in 2024, going 47th overall.  Plante got to play alongside his brother, Zam, and Jayson Shaugabay at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, comprising one of the higher-scoring trios in Division I.  The 20-year-old followed up a solid rookie showing by nearly doubling his point totals this season, notching 25 goals and 27 assists in 40 games, finishing two points ahead of his brother to lead the Bulldogs in scoring.  His 52 points put him in a tie for third overall in NCAA scoring.

Unsurprisingly, Plante received many accolades with how his season went.  Among the other awards he won this season was the NCHC Forward of the Year, NCHC Player of the Year, First Team All-Conference, and the College Hockey News Player of the Year.  He will soon have to decide if he’s going to return to the Bulldogs for his junior year or look to make the jump to the pros.

The other two finalists for the award were Michigan senior T.J. Hughes and Denver junior Eric Pohlkamp.  Hughes is expected to sign his first NHL contract in the very near future while Pohlkamp, the lone defenseman among the three finalists, is a fifth-round pick of the Sharks.

Other awards handed out this evening:

Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine took home the Mike Richter Award for the top NCAA goalie.  The 21-year-old posted a 2.11 GAA with a .929 SV% in 34 games with Michigan State in his junior year and turned pro after their season came to an end.  A Detroit second-rounder, he’s making his AHL debut tonight with Grand Rapids.  Augustine was a Top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and won the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year for the second straight year.

Flames prospect Ethan Wyttenbach won the Tim Taylor Award for Rookie of the Year.  The 19-year-old was a fifth-round pick (144th overall) last June and had quite the freshman year at Quinnipiac.  He played in 40 games, tallying 25 goals and 34 assists.  That was good enough to not only lead his team in scoring but all of Division I.  Unsurprisingly, he was also a Top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.