Headlines

  • Latest On Nikolaj Ehlers
  • Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers
  • Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93
  • Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal
  • Rangers, Will Cuylle Agree To Two-Year Deal
  • Kings Sign Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Will Butcher Wins Hobey Baker Award

April 7, 2017 at 5:44 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 1 Comment

On Friday night, the top player in college hockey was announced as Denver defenseman Will Butcher. Butcher edged out Northeastern winger Zach Aston-Reese and Union College center Mike Vecchione, the other Hat Trick finalists, for the Hobey Baker Award, the highest honor in NCAA hockey. Butcher is the first defenseman to win the award since Boston University’s Matt Gilroy in 2009.

Butcher had an incredible season for the University of Denver Pioneers, and he’s not done yet. Denver, the top seed in the country, is set to take on Minnesota-Duluth for the NCAA National Championship tomorrow night, a reward that Butcher would likely covet even more than the Hobey Baker. However, for now he can relish in the spotlight of being names the top player in college hockey. Butcher scored seven goals and added 30 assists in 42 games this season, good enough for second in scoring among defensemen, and his +27 rating ranked among the top ten in all skaters. Butcher was also named the top offensive defenseman in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and is also a stout defender in his own end.

Unlike Aston-Reese (7 points in 7 games for the AHL’s Wilke-Barre/Scranton Penguins) and Vecchione (debuted for the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday), Butcher won’t be seeing any NHL action this season. A fifth-round pick of none other than the NHL’s worst team, the Colorado Avalanche, in 2013, Butcher has the option of signing with the Avs after his season ends tomorrow night, but by then Colorado will have just a Sunday matinee remaining in the season. While Colorado certainly hopes that the nation’s best player and a college senior would still sign with the team soon regardless – they could definitely use a top young defenseman – that may not be the case. It is already April and Denver’s success has eliminated any chance that Butcher can make his pro debut this season. He could easily instead choose to hold out until August and test free agency for the best opportunity to both play and win. Colorado has not been very good at the latter, but time will only tell what the next step is for the Hobey Baker winner. His focus right now is on adding another trophy to his collection tomorrow night.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

NCAA Mike Vecchione| Will Butcher| Zach Aston-Reese

Snapshots: McNeill, Tolchinsky, Borgstrom
Main
NCAA All-American Teams Named
View Comments (1)

Comments

  1. Connorsoxfan

    8 years ago

    An interesting article might be to go back and look at the success of winners of this award.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Latest On Nikolaj Ehlers

    Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers

    Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93

    Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal

    Rangers, Will Cuylle Agree To Two-Year Deal

    Kings Sign Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg

    Ducks Sign Mikael Granlund To Three-Year Deal

    Islanders Sign Jonathan Drouin To Two-Year Deal

    Mammoth Sign Nate Schmidt, Brandon Tanev To Three-Year Deals

    Blue Jackets Re-Sign Ivan Provorov To Seven-Year Deal

    Recent

    Alex Pietrangelo Placed On LTIR, Unlikely To Play Again

    Flames Ink Goalie Ivan Prosvetov To One-Year Deal

    Ducks Finalize Coaching Staff

    Latest On Nikolaj Ehlers

    Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers

    Islanders Sign Simon Holmstrom To Two-Year Deal

    Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93

    Penguins Sign Justin Brazeau, Caleb Jones To Two-Year Deals

    Hurricanes Sign Mike Reilly

    Golden Knights Sign Dylan Coghlan, Jaycob Megna, Cole Reinhardt

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2025’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents
    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Pick Tracker 2025
    • Key Offseason Dates
    • Offseason Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version