The Hobey Baker Award becomes harder and harder to predict every year, and with CHL players making the switch now, the talent pool is deeper than ever. This year is no different, as the talent pool is the best it's ever been.
The Hobey Baker Award is given to the nation’s top college hockey player, and with CHL players once again entering the NCAA ranks, the race for the 2027 trophy is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent memory: veteran college stars, projected first-round NHL Draft picks, and CHL standouts beginning their freshman seasons. Who are the names that are expected to be in that race, and what separates them from one another?
Ethan Wyttenbach - Left Winger - Quinnipiac University
Wyttenbach led the nation in scoring last season with 59 points in 40 games, but the Hobey Baker was eventually given to Minnesota-Duluth star Max Plante. Many expected Wyttenbach to go pro and join the Calgary Flames organization, where he’s looking like the biggest steal out of the 2025 NHL draft; Calgary selected him in the fifth round, 144th overall.
Quinnipiac will be a good team next season as they always are, and Wyttenbach will be the driving force that can potentially bring them another national championship and the program’s first-ever Hobey Baker winner.
Will Zellers - Left Winger - University of North Dakota
With North Dakota’s top two point producers leaving the program in Ellis Rickwood and Ben Strinden, Zellers will have a lot more opportunity and, quite honestly, a lot more expectations to produce after a great freshman season. 18 goals and 34 points in 38 games last season is what’s setting up a potential monster year for Zellers as he likely plays alongside Calgary Flames 2025 first-round pick and elite playmaker Cole Reshcny.
What makes Zellers case so appealing is that North Dakota is loading up their roster full of talent, and if someone from the future told me Will Zellers led the nation in scoring, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
Dean Letourneau - Center - Boston College
Although he wasn’t supposed to be on the team in 2024-25, Letourneau’s freshman season was nothing short of a disaster with three points in 36 games, but the six-foot-seven Boston Bruins draft pick flipped a switch last season, when he finished second on Boston College in points with 39, only behind James Hagens.
Letourneau’s 22 goals last season could look like a warm-up if he produces the way many people are expecting. It would take a monster season from someone else to deny Letourneau the award if he finishes with 30+ goals and helps lead BC to the Frozen Four.
Landon DuPont -Defenseman - University of Michigan
A freshman blueliner has never won the Hobey Baker before, but Landon DuPont possesses every trait available to become the first to ever do it. The projected first-overall pick in the 2027 NHL draft absolutely tore it up in the WHL last season with 18 goals and 73 points, with a plus-minus of plus-59.
He continued his play into the playoffs, where his Everett Silvertips won the WHL off a stellar 23 points in 18 games from DuPont. Even playing through injury in the Memorial Cup, DuPont had six points in four games. DuPont may be stepping into college hockey as the best defenseman before even playing a game for the Wolverines, and should be considered a favourite for the award.
Jack Ivankovic -Goalie - University of Michigan
You always have to show some love to the goalies, and what is there not to love about Ivankovic? He was arguably Michigan’s best player last season, where he posted a 2.15 goals-against-average and a .921 save-percentage with a 25-8-1 record.
The undersized goalie from Mississauga, Ontario, is one of the few goalies in the country that you can count on to completely win you a weekend series by themselves, and although only one goalie has won the award since Ryan Miller did in 2001, Ivankovic will be on a stacked Michigan roster where his numbers may look like he’s playing in rookie mode.
