Drafting is not an exact science, if it was teams wouldn't be hiring so many scouts in the hope of having the most expertise and it takes years to know how well a team did in any given draft year.
At the 2023 draft, the Montreal Canadiens selected David Reinbacher with the fifth overall pick of the first round, and it was a rocky ride for the blueliner. Not only because franchise goaltender Carey Price, who made the pick, couldn't remember his last name, but also because offense-starved fans would have preferred the organization to pick Russian wunderkind Matvei Michkov.
The Canadiens helped the youngster cross the choppy waters and put everything in place to ensure things settled down for the rearguard. The communications department even ensured fans with positive messages would be able to reach the Austrian through a scrapbook put together at one fan's initiative.
Then, they sent him back to Switzerland to allow him to keep developing away from the Montreal pressure cooker. Unfortunately, they didn't know he would suffer injuries and multiple coaches as his team, HC Kloten, struggled mightily.
He had a satisfying camp this Fall, considering he's only 19 years old. He is still getting to grips with North American play, something his 11 games in the AHL with the Laval Rocket weren't enough to do. Unfortunately, his efforts were derailed thanks to a serious knee injury that required surgery and will keep him out of action for five to six months.
In short, through no fault of his own, Reinbacher hasn't had a chance to develop properly since he was drafted; such is the nature of professional sports. The beauty of it is, however, that there's no rush. A step back caused by an injury is not the end of the world—far from it.
However, today, The Athletic's Corey Pronman has published a 2023 NHL re-draft, a full 15 months after the actual draft took place. Unsurprisingly, Reinbacher has gone down in the ranking. It couldn't have been any other way after an injury- and issue-plagued season.
Meanwhile, Connor Bedard is still first overall, to absolutely no one's astonishment. Columbus Blue Jackets' pick Adam Fantilli has gone from third to second, Anaheim Ducks Leo Carlsson from second to third, and Philadelphia Flyers' Michkov has gone from seventh to fourth, which is even less surprising than Bedard staying at the top. After all, part of the reason why Michkov dropped was uncertainty about when he'd come to North America.
Since he got out of his contract, the talented Russian forward has climbed up the rankings. It's not like he has lit up the league just yet, either, putting up a point over a couple of games with a minus-two rating.
The 2003 draft wasn't anointed the best class ever within 15 months. Hindsight is always 20/20 unless, of course, you don't take the time to gain said hindsight. In other words, there's no need to panic about a redrafting done before some of the draftees are even done growing up.
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