NCAA season preview: Who are the top 10 candidates for the Hobey Baker, Mike Richter, and Tim Taylor awards?

The college hockey landscape is changing, and it could have a significant impact on the races for the three major player awards.

With CHL players finally eligible to play NCAA hockey, the Hobey Baker, Mike Richter, and certainly Tim Thomas are likely to have even fiercer competition among the best players in college. The Hobey, given annually to the nation's most outstanding player, rarely goes to freshmen, but it does happen often enough that it's a particularly viable outcome this year. That probably won't be the case for the Richter, which goes to the top goalie and rarely gets awarded to rookies.

But the Taylor is where the real fun begins, because this season should be something of a proving ground to see just how well ex-CHL freshmen ranging from 17 to as old as 23 years old — includin