BOSTON, MA – FEBRUARY 6: Zach Aston-Reese #12 of the Northeastern Huskies skates against the Harvard Crimson during NCAA hockey in the semifinals of the annual Beanpot Hockey Tournament at TD Garden on February 6, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Crimson won 4-3. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)

As the college hockey season winds down, the discussion logically shifts to who deserves the postseason awards.

The discussions for the Mike Richter and Spencer Penrose awards this year are, as far as I’m concerned, more or less academic. Canisius’s Charles Williams (.944) is the only goalie in the country for the Richter worth considering; the next-closest contender is Army’s Parker Gahagen (.936). It’s a huge gap. And for Jim Mongomery to guide Denver through that conference and fend off that Minnesota-Duluth team after all it lost in the summer, and only really suffering, what, one bad weekend all year? If he’s not the coach of the year, I really don’t know who is.

Meanwhile, the Hobey Baker is probably going to be more of a wide-open field. It shouldn’t be.

Zach Aston-Reese, a senior right wing at Northeastern, has been the best player I’ve seen live this year since the first day of the season, and leads the country in points with 62 in 36 games. He leads the nation in goals (30) and is tied for sixth in assists. He has more shots on goal than all but three players in the nation. He leads the nation in unassisted goals and shorthanded goals, and he’s tied for fifth in goals at 5-on-5. Only one of his 30 goals was scored into an empty net.

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That’s the headline stuff. That’s the stuff you don’t need to be told. When someone leads the country in scoring, their quality in the attacking zone tends to speak for itself.

What separates Aston-Reese from the other elite players I’ve seen a number of times this year (Clayton Keller at BU, Tyler Kelleher at UNH, Tyler Sheehy at Minnesota, etc.; I didn’t catch Union live so I can’t personally speak to the overall dominance of Mike Vecchione and Spencer Foo) is actually two-fold.

First, it’s the fact that Aston-Reese was in a difficult situation for most of the season; his two linemates all year were supposed to be brothers John and Nolan Stevens, two very solid college players who can help push play in the right direction and contribute offensively. John, the team’s No. 1 center, missed 13 games out of Northeastern’s 36 due to various injuries. Nolan, the left wing, missed 21. For the third guy on their line to not only succeed without them, but to lead the country in scoring is no small feat in and of itself.

But even beyond that, the thing you have to keep in mind about Aston-Reese is that even beyond all the scoring — he had 10 games in which he scored at least three points and was only held off the scoresheet eight times — he’s also the most NHL-ready undrafted free agent in college hockey today. He’s going to sign with an NHL team the second Northeastern’s season is over and go play not because he negotiated to have a year burned off his ELC, but because his game is extremely close to complete.

“If you followed us this year or even the last four years, Zach Aston-Reese has probably been the best defensive player [in Hockey East],” coach Jim Madigan said after Aston-Reese went 1-1-2 in a win over UConn on Saturday. “He’s got tremendous work habits and his play away from the puck has been tremendous for all four years. It’s his offense that’s continued to come each and every year. He’s a 200-foot guy. He can impact your team’s success without scoring goals.”

More to the point, Northeastern has the benefit of having two high-end scoring lines. While Aston-Reese flew without his intended help for most of the year, the second line of Adam Gaudette (26-26-52), Dylan Sikura (20-36-56), and a rotating cast of characters added a next-level backup punch that you almost never see in college hockey. Two separate lines with guys who are miles above a point a game is difficult to counter.

But after that, Northeastern’s depth started to drop off pretty sharply, and the team suffered also from a lack of quality goaltending for most of the year. While Ryan Ruck is .921 in his last eight starts, he was also .889 in his first 27, so that goes a long way toward explaining why a team with this much firepower is still only 18-13-5.

To illustrate the kind of 200-foot difference Aston-Reese makes, here’s the 5-on-5 shot attempt data from all the games of his I tracked (11 so far). The impact he has on his team’s performance when he’s on the ice almost can’t be overstated.

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