NCAA season preview: Top candidates for Hobey Baker, Mike Richter, and Tim Taylor awards

There are three major awards given to players in Div. 1 college hockey each year. One has dominated the conversation in the sport for decades: The Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the nation's most outstanding player (there's also a being-a-nice-guy aspect to the award, but that's beside the point unless the committee decides it's a healthy percentage of the point).

However, in more recent years, other awards have been introduced. First, in 2006-07, was the Tim Taylor Award, given annually to the most outstanding freshman in college hockey, basically a “rookie of the year” award. Then, in 2013-14, came the Mike Richter Award, given to the nation's top goalie.

(I would do coach of the year predictions, too, but honestly, the rules for the Spencer Penrose Award are ridiculous: The only eligible candidates are coaches of teams that won their conference postseason championship or made the Frozen Four. So trying to guess who's going to win a handful of single-elimination in six months feels a little silly.)

So which players across the ever-growing college hockey landscape are among the most likely to win each of these awards this year? Here's a breakdown of the top 10 candidates for each, presented in alphabetical order: