Harvard junior Jimmy Vesey (no, not Boston U's Jack Eichel) was named this year's winner of the Walter Brown Award, which celebrates the top men's Division I hockey player in the state of New England.

Vesey, a third-round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2012, scored 31 goals and 57 points in 36 games this season. He finished nine points shy of Eichel, but scored seven more goals.

There are whispers Vesey could leave school to join the Predators for the postseason (a la Chris Kreider), but as general manager David Poile explained to TSN's Bob McKenzie, academics could delay the start of his professional career.

"Jimmy is a player we believe we could put in our (NHL) lineup right now. And the way we're playing right now, yes, we could really use him. But it's Harvard, right? We know that," Poile said.

"He's a very good player but he (is) also a very smart kid, a good student, so we'll just take it one day at a time and see what happens."

Meanwhile, Eichel will hope you don't necessarily have to win New England to be named the top player in college hockey when the Hobey Baker Award is handed out in April.