Make no mistake: Cole Caufield is going to rightly win the Hobey Baker Award in a walk

There are some years, like the abbreviated 2019-20 season, when the Hobey Baker Award seems very much up in the air. Sometimes you get two, three, four good candidates out of the 10 finalists and can make cogent arguments for any one of them.

Then there are some years, like the 2018-19 season, where they give you 10 finalists and no one even vaguely considers whether someone other than one specific player is worthy of the award. Everyone involved had nice seasons, sure, but you get a Cale Makar or a Jack Eichel or a Johnny Gaudreau and it's like, "Well, no one else was even close."

This season falls into the latter category.

While the Hobey Hat Trick this year consists of Wisconsin's Cole Caufield, North Dakota's Shane Pinto, and Minnesota State's Dryden McKay, we have to be honest here: This