Minnesota Duluth’s Max Plante wins men’s college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award

Minnesota Duluth sophomore forward Max Plante is the winner of the 2026 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in men’s college hockey.

He edged fellow finalists, T.J. Hughes, a senior forward from Michigan, and Eric Pohlkamp, a junior defenseman from the University of Denver.

Plante scored 25 goals and had 52 points in 40 games in his second season with the Bulldogs. The 2024 second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings finished third in NCAA Division I scoring behind Quinnipiac’s Ethan Wyttenbach (59) and Hughes (57).

He’s the first Minnesota Duluth player to win the award since Scott Perunovich in 2020 and the seventh overall.

Plante’s father, former NHL player Derek Plante, also played for Minnesota Duluth and was a Hobey Baker top 10 finalist in 1993.

Michigan State’s Trey Augustine was named the top goaltender in the Friday, April 10 ceremony. He went 24-9-1 for the Spartans with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.

Wyttenbach was named college hockey’s rookie of the year.

Recent Hobey Baker Award winners

• 2026: F Max Plante, Minnesota Duluth
• 2025: F Isaac Howard, Michigan State
• 2024: F Macklin Celebrini, Boston University
• 2023: F Adam Fantilli, Michigan
• 2022: G Dryden McKay, Minnesota State
• 2021: F Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
• 2020: D Scott Perunovich, Minnesota Duluth
• 2019: D Cale Makar, UMass
• 2018: F Adam Gaudette, Northeastern
• 2017: D Will Butcher, Denver
• 2016: F Jimmy Vesey, Harvard