WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou
I will get banned again soon, worry not.
They could have had another Jagr but opted for another Rick Green instead.
Welcome to the Montreal Canadiens, David Reinbacher
- Thread starter Habspatrol
- Start date
GGpX
Well-known member
Hockey Prospect had him ranked 13th
David Reinbacher is a solid framed, 200-foot defenseman with primary shooting instincts from the offensive blueline.
He’s smooth, he’s calm, he’s efficient, and he plays a mature game that features a lot of structure. He played for EHC
Kloten this past season, where he not only found initial success but played with a rare level of consistency in the
National League. He relies heavily on his reads, his first pass, and his heavy shot from the line to generate his
production, instead of with high end talent.
Reinbacher fits a pretty unique mold in this year's crop. He’s not as athletic as Owen PIckering, he hasn’t shown the
same level of offensive flashes as Moritz Seider in his draft year, and he’s not as powerful or as mean as Lian Bichsel, but
he still possesses a useful and well rounded skill set that gives him versatility.
He can sync up with opposing players' pace of play and match it. He’s usually quick to challenge the puck carrier
coming to his side of the ice in transition and makes it a priority not to allow quick forwards to bypass him from the
outside. This directly tied into his rush absorption play, where he flashed his physical element at the highest rate. If he
thinks the opposing player has a speed advantage over him, he tries to kill their momentum with his own and use his
frame to cut them off along the walls by aggressively closing on them and bodying them off the puck.
There’s times where he can be too reliant on his length and positioning, without imposing himself, but we found down
the stretch that he was starting to develop a better level of consistency and physical recognition of when he needed to
use his frame before his stick. He can push off on players to throw them off balance, he can get underneath players and
turn them away from the puck net to counteract pass reception plays, and he can weigh on players along the walls.
When evaluating him from a physical perspective, there’s parallels to draw upon from Oliver Bonk. Bonk is a bit shorter
but they both were physically underdeveloped and it showed on the ice in the same ways, especially when evaluating
their handling fluidity and their playmaking consistency in the first half of the season. By the end of the year, both had
significantly improved their offensive operating windows, which we will get to when discussing Reinbacher at the point.
Unlike Bonk who is very reliant on his stick positioning, Reinbacher’s strength is very impressive, and he uses it like a
barricade, containing opposing players. We wish he had more of a mean streak in him and made life more
uncomfortable overall, but there is potential for him to translate aspects of his rush defense where he’s more physically
involved and then generalize that to the rest of his defensive game if given time, it just hasn’t completely emerged yet.
Where he’s already very developed is within how he approaches his retrievals and finds the clean exit to ignite the
breakout. He scans opposing forechecking routes as he’s picking up the puck, and if he needs to use his frame to buy
himself time, he does. There’s a high panic threshold built into this player and that means he rarely tosses the puck away
into a bad area of the ice. If the quick out isn’t an option, he knows how to slow down the play to get himself an
opportunity for a supporting option.
He blends his vision, his playmaking, and his situational awareness to be the catalyst for transitional play through the
neutral zone as well. His situational reads and recognition of where he is relative to his teammates, is enhanced through
his understanding of the flow of a play. As an example, when he’s in the neutral zone looking to make a pass, he can
assess if his teammates are covered properly most of the time, and if they have the momentum necessary to out skate
an opposing defense if he needs to dump the puck in. It goes back to his clean play; he's calculated with his short area
and stretch playmaking.
He doesn’t need to be overly reliant on his playmaking options as a result of developing his skating base in some areas
over the course of the season. Of course, as a result of being a younger and ever growing kid, his strength and power
output improved over the year, but we felt his multidirectional skating really improved as well. He was less balanced to
start the year and featured some rigidity in his upper frame but we felt by the end of the season he had improved his
overall fluidity.
Out of turns or when attempting to move rapidly off his centerline, he can still have trouble sitting deep into his stride,
and we wouldn’t label him an exceptional skater but he went from looking functional at the start of the year to a good
skater by the end. This was critical in our evaluation since we value the minute eater upside of David.
His instinct is to unload his slapshot and wrist shots from the line as often as possible, but it was to the point where it
was to his detriment, since his game became too obvious. Yet, as the season progressed, so did Reinbacher’s general
approach to initiating offense with a degree of deception and increased mobility. This gave him better breakouts and
made him less vulnerable to pattern recognition from opposing players who were trying to get in-front of his shots from
the O-line.
He’s not a dynamic puck handler, and his puck handling execution rates overall don’t come close to matching other
defenseman at the top of this draft like Simashev, Pellikka or Willander but they went from being a limiting factor to at
least average. His offensive instincts are typically streamlined, which is fine, but the dynamic play driving qualities from
the backend that we see in Simashev aren’t present here. So we feel there is more of a limiting factor to Reinbacher
than his numbers suggest, as previously stated. He’s unlikely to be a true powerplay option, depending on the makeup
of the team that drafts him, but his steady rate of progression makes him a very useful multidimensional top-4
defenseman that can make positive plays for a team in each area of the ice, without making too many mistakes on most
nights.
HIs talent doesn’t suggest he should be placed at the top of the draft since he hasn’t shown the ability to breakdown
the offensive zone or make technical passes at the rate needed to justify putting him up there, but his positioning,
handedness and size are the most coveted traits in hockey right now.
We feel Reinbacher is a competitive, steady, minute eater that brings versatility to a backend in a top-4 and likely puts
up between 25 and 30 points in his prime.
“He’s not Moritz Seider. Moritz's sense for the game was at a different level but Reinbacher is still a
very valuable player.” - HP Scout, Brad Allen
“I think a team could take him as high as 6 if the positional need is there.” - NHL Scout, May 2023
“I like him because he plays with a lot of want-to and spirit but he’s not a smart player. He is
getting to be overrated.” - NHL Scout, February 2023
“He has this issue with passing the puck to guys that are not open.” - NHL Scout, February 2023
“I like him and have him in my top 20 but I think he’s also a product of there having no defensemen
in this draft class. Same thing with Bon. Good player but probably getting overdrafted.” - NHL
Scout, February 2023
“Good player. Big and he can skate…he isn’t overly skilled but he can make the routine passes.” - NHL
Scout, March 2023
“Good solid player for the top 20 or so, but he’s not very creative or dynamic.” - NHL Scout, April 2023
“I like him and I’m not trying to be negative but it’s not like this is Brandt Clarke on the PP. He can
make the simple plays but this is just a guy who is big with some wheels who plays a simple game
and that’s ok.” - NHL Scout, April 2023
“He’s terrible in his own zone. That’s not good and doesn’t often equate to being a first round talent.”
- NHL Scout, May 2023
“Everyone is all Reinbacher, Reinbacher, Reinbacher and I like him, but gimme Simashev.” - NHL
Scout, May 2023
“I don’t know how all these people have Reinbacher at 5 or 6 on all these lists. I want what they’re
smoking” - NHL Scout, June 2022
“It is amazing to me how much it sounds like he is going to Montreal at five. It’s not even Kent
Hughes…it’s guys above him.” - NHL Scout, June 2023
“Our number two Dman since November, but he couldn’t get above Simashev…although I fully expect
he will be drafted before Simashev on draft day.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards, June 2023
David Reinbacher is a solid framed, 200-foot defenseman with primary shooting instincts from the offensive blueline.
He’s smooth, he’s calm, he’s efficient, and he plays a mature game that features a lot of structure. He played for EHC
Kloten this past season, where he not only found initial success but played with a rare level of consistency in the
National League. He relies heavily on his reads, his first pass, and his heavy shot from the line to generate his
production, instead of with high end talent.
Reinbacher fits a pretty unique mold in this year's crop. He’s not as athletic as Owen PIckering, he hasn’t shown the
same level of offensive flashes as Moritz Seider in his draft year, and he’s not as powerful or as mean as Lian Bichsel, but
he still possesses a useful and well rounded skill set that gives him versatility.
He can sync up with opposing players' pace of play and match it. He’s usually quick to challenge the puck carrier
coming to his side of the ice in transition and makes it a priority not to allow quick forwards to bypass him from the
outside. This directly tied into his rush absorption play, where he flashed his physical element at the highest rate. If he
thinks the opposing player has a speed advantage over him, he tries to kill their momentum with his own and use his
frame to cut them off along the walls by aggressively closing on them and bodying them off the puck.
There’s times where he can be too reliant on his length and positioning, without imposing himself, but we found down
the stretch that he was starting to develop a better level of consistency and physical recognition of when he needed to
use his frame before his stick. He can push off on players to throw them off balance, he can get underneath players and
turn them away from the puck net to counteract pass reception plays, and he can weigh on players along the walls.
When evaluating him from a physical perspective, there’s parallels to draw upon from Oliver Bonk. Bonk is a bit shorter
but they both were physically underdeveloped and it showed on the ice in the same ways, especially when evaluating
their handling fluidity and their playmaking consistency in the first half of the season. By the end of the year, both had
significantly improved their offensive operating windows, which we will get to when discussing Reinbacher at the point.
Unlike Bonk who is very reliant on his stick positioning, Reinbacher’s strength is very impressive, and he uses it like a
barricade, containing opposing players. We wish he had more of a mean streak in him and made life more
uncomfortable overall, but there is potential for him to translate aspects of his rush defense where he’s more physically
involved and then generalize that to the rest of his defensive game if given time, it just hasn’t completely emerged yet.
Where he’s already very developed is within how he approaches his retrievals and finds the clean exit to ignite the
breakout. He scans opposing forechecking routes as he’s picking up the puck, and if he needs to use his frame to buy
himself time, he does. There’s a high panic threshold built into this player and that means he rarely tosses the puck away
into a bad area of the ice. If the quick out isn’t an option, he knows how to slow down the play to get himself an
opportunity for a supporting option.
He blends his vision, his playmaking, and his situational awareness to be the catalyst for transitional play through the
neutral zone as well. His situational reads and recognition of where he is relative to his teammates, is enhanced through
his understanding of the flow of a play. As an example, when he’s in the neutral zone looking to make a pass, he can
assess if his teammates are covered properly most of the time, and if they have the momentum necessary to out skate
an opposing defense if he needs to dump the puck in. It goes back to his clean play; he's calculated with his short area
and stretch playmaking.
He doesn’t need to be overly reliant on his playmaking options as a result of developing his skating base in some areas
over the course of the season. Of course, as a result of being a younger and ever growing kid, his strength and power
output improved over the year, but we felt his multidirectional skating really improved as well. He was less balanced to
start the year and featured some rigidity in his upper frame but we felt by the end of the season he had improved his
overall fluidity.
Out of turns or when attempting to move rapidly off his centerline, he can still have trouble sitting deep into his stride,
and we wouldn’t label him an exceptional skater but he went from looking functional at the start of the year to a good
skater by the end. This was critical in our evaluation since we value the minute eater upside of David.
His instinct is to unload his slapshot and wrist shots from the line as often as possible, but it was to the point where it
was to his detriment, since his game became too obvious. Yet, as the season progressed, so did Reinbacher’s general
approach to initiating offense with a degree of deception and increased mobility. This gave him better breakouts and
made him less vulnerable to pattern recognition from opposing players who were trying to get in-front of his shots from
the O-line.
He’s not a dynamic puck handler, and his puck handling execution rates overall don’t come close to matching other
defenseman at the top of this draft like Simashev, Pellikka or Willander but they went from being a limiting factor to at
least average. His offensive instincts are typically streamlined, which is fine, but the dynamic play driving qualities from
the backend that we see in Simashev aren’t present here. So we feel there is more of a limiting factor to Reinbacher
than his numbers suggest, as previously stated. He’s unlikely to be a true powerplay option, depending on the makeup
of the team that drafts him, but his steady rate of progression makes him a very useful multidimensional top-4
defenseman that can make positive plays for a team in each area of the ice, without making too many mistakes on most
nights.
HIs talent doesn’t suggest he should be placed at the top of the draft since he hasn’t shown the ability to breakdown
the offensive zone or make technical passes at the rate needed to justify putting him up there, but his positioning,
handedness and size are the most coveted traits in hockey right now.
We feel Reinbacher is a competitive, steady, minute eater that brings versatility to a backend in a top-4 and likely puts
up between 25 and 30 points in his prime.
“He’s not Moritz Seider. Moritz's sense for the game was at a different level but Reinbacher is still a
very valuable player.” - HP Scout, Brad Allen
“I think a team could take him as high as 6 if the positional need is there.” - NHL Scout, May 2023
“I like him because he plays with a lot of want-to and spirit but he’s not a smart player. He is
getting to be overrated.” - NHL Scout, February 2023
“He has this issue with passing the puck to guys that are not open.” - NHL Scout, February 2023
“I like him and have him in my top 20 but I think he’s also a product of there having no defensemen
in this draft class. Same thing with Bon. Good player but probably getting overdrafted.” - NHL
Scout, February 2023
“Good player. Big and he can skate…he isn’t overly skilled but he can make the routine passes.” - NHL
Scout, March 2023
“Good solid player for the top 20 or so, but he’s not very creative or dynamic.” - NHL Scout, April 2023
“I like him and I’m not trying to be negative but it’s not like this is Brandt Clarke on the PP. He can
make the simple plays but this is just a guy who is big with some wheels who plays a simple game
and that’s ok.” - NHL Scout, April 2023
“He’s terrible in his own zone. That’s not good and doesn’t often equate to being a first round talent.”
- NHL Scout, May 2023
“Everyone is all Reinbacher, Reinbacher, Reinbacher and I like him, but gimme Simashev.” - NHL
Scout, May 2023
“I don’t know how all these people have Reinbacher at 5 or 6 on all these lists. I want what they’re
smoking” - NHL Scout, June 2022
“It is amazing to me how much it sounds like he is going to Montreal at five. It’s not even Kent
Hughes…it’s guys above him.” - NHL Scout, June 2023
“Our number two Dman since November, but he couldn’t get above Simashev…although I fully expect
he will be drafted before Simashev on draft day.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards, June 2023
he was gone at 6
Habsy
Not playing around anymore.
Arizona would have taken him at 6.
GGpX
Well-known member
My guy Simon Boisvert had him 5th.
worm
Well-known member
Any details on what he thinks his upside is?
I like that. Do you know his top 4?
Habsy
Not playing around anymore.
GGpX
Well-known member
TOP 10 de Snake
1. Connor Bedard
2. Matvei MIchkov
3. Adam Fantilli
4. Leo Carlsson
5. David Reinbacher
6. Quentin Musty
7. Will Smith
8. Colby Barlow
9. Matthew Wood
10. Zach Benson
GGpX
Well-known member
Thinks his upside is a first pairing d-man, but doesn't think he'll ever be in the Norris conversation.
Rolex
Canadiens Moderator
Simon Boisvert had Will Smith at #7......he preferred Reinbacher over Will Smith. His rational was that Smith might be an 80-point player, but just as much a 50-point player, so he prefers the sure-thing top 2 reliable dmen at #5.
so took him where he should have gone, not bad
Sal_Butera
Well-known member
Canadiens make David Reinbacher highest-drafted Austrian defenceman ever
Reinbacher was drafted by the Canadiens with the No. 5 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, making him the highest-ever drafted Austrian defenseman.
theathletic.com
GGpX
Well-known member
It's why I'm not mad at the pick. A little disappointed because he wasn't my first option, sure, but I don't think it's a pick that should make you want to smash your TV.
Had we taken Oliver fucking Moore? Yeah, that would be a pick that would merit fliping the table and breaking something.
Rolex
Canadiens Moderator
yes but Boisvert's rational for putting Reinbacher at #5 is more an indictment of Will Smith not being a future star, so by default he'd rather take the dmen at #5
Feels like Habs management did the same thing....they picked the lesser of the shitty options, instead of going for MM (which i agree that Molson vetoed it)