Max Plante was named the Hobey Baker Award winner Friday night, as the nation's best men's collegiate hockey player, at a ceremony in Las Vegas. The University of Minnesota-Duluth winger scored 25 goals and had 27 assists in 40 games. Plante beat out Michigan senior forward and team captain T.J. Hughes, and Denver junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp. Hughes was undrafted; Pohlkamp was taken in the fifth round by the Sharks in 2023.
The 20-year-old Plante was a second-round pick of the Red Wings in 2024, but has announced he is returning for his junior season at UMD, so he can play with both of his brothers. He has played with older brother Zam Plante, the Penguins' fifth-round pick in 2022, at UMD the last two seasons, but his youngest brother, Victor, is an incoming freshman to the program.
My take: Max certainly has nothing left to prove at the collegiate level, but it's nice to see a decision being made in sports that has nothing to do with money.
THE ASYLUM
Plante wins Hobey Baker
Max Plante was named the Hobey Baker Award winner Friday night, as the nation's best men's collegiate hockey player, at a ceremony in Las Vegas. The University of Minnesota-Duluth winger scored 25 goals and had 27 assists in 40 games. Plante beat out Michigan senior forward and team captain T.J. Hughes, and Denver junior defenseman Eric Pohlkamp. Hughes was undrafted; Pohlkamp was taken in the fifth round by the Sharks in 2023.
The 20-year-old Plante was a second-round pick of the Red Wings in 2024, but has announced he is returning for his junior season at UMD, so he can play with both of his brothers. He has played with older brother Zam Plante, the Penguins' fifth-round pick in 2022, at UMD the last two seasons, but his youngest brother, Victor, is an incoming freshman to the program.
My take: Max certainly has nothing left to prove at the collegiate level, but it's nice to see a decision being made in sports that has nothing to do with money.
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