This should be the year David Reinbacher makes the Montreal Canadiens' roster, and if all goes according to plan, he should play an important role in the end.
It’s time for the Austrian right-shot blueliner to take the next step. The 21-year-old who was the fifth overall pick at the 2023 NHL draft has been plagued by injury ever since then, but these appear to be due to bad luck rather than being injury-prone, and if he can remain healthy this season, you can expect him to make the Montreal Canadiens’ roster.
It may not be right at the start of the season, but his time is coming and it’s obvious that Martin St-Louis would like to have balanced pairings rather than play Lane Hutson or Kaiden Guhle on their off side. If Kent Hughes had managed to acquire an experienced right-shot defenseman to play alongside Hutson, the Habs may have been more comfortable with giving Reinbacher, who has only played 78 AHL games with the Laval Rocket over parts of three seasons more time, more time to develop. That might have been the wiser path, but as things stand, they have a glaring hole to fill on the right side of the defense and the sooner the better.
While more games in the AHL could have been good for the prospect’s development and to adapt to the North American style of play, it remains that Reinbach did play three seasons of pro hockey in Switzerland before making the jump to his side of the pond, so he cannot exactly be called inexperienced at the pro level.
Last season, Reinbacher skated in 57 games with the Rocket, putting up 24 points in the process and had a short two-game audition with the Habs in which he did pick up an assist. It was the first season in which he was mainly healthy, only missing 11 games because of a fractured bone in his hand, and he looked much more confident as a result. Don’t expect him to become the same kind of defenseman as Hutson, it’s not what he was drafted to be. He caught the eye of the Canadiens’ scout because of his defensive awareness, his ability to read the play and his calm under pressure. On paper, that should make him the perfect partner for Hutson, but that’s quite a big role.
Will the youngster be ready to step right in a second pairing role right away? That’s quite a big step, especially considering how many minutes Hutson spends on the ice. In an ideal world however, his arrival would mean that Alex Carrier doesn’t play anywhere else than on the third pairing, even if Reinbacher may need a bit of time to adapt before that becomes a reality.
You can fully expect Rainbacher to be given every opportunity to show what he can do at the top level at the upcoming training camp. He should see plenty of action, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him feature in three preseason games (since there are two split-squad games, he couldn’t play in any more).
If Reinbacher does graduate to the NHL this season, he shouldn’t be looked to for more than 10 to 15 points, it’s on the other side of the puck that he should really have his impact and he should stabilize the Canadiens’ blueline. His arrival should finally give St-Louis the opportunity to spread the workload more evenly across his defense corps since he will more than likely have more confidence in Reinbacher than he does in Jayden Struble or Arber Xhekaj, per se. The Austrian has shown in the AHL that ha can handle penalty killing duties, which would come in very handy for the Habs since Hutson has also started playing when down a man last season, it’s not something he should be doing and if St-Louis had confidence in his other blueliner, he wouldn’t be doing it either.
If Reinbacher has a convincing training camp, Hughes might finally have to make a choice between Struble and Xhekaj, once of them could have to go since there’s only so much depth you need on the blueline. Given how often Kaiden Guhle is injured however, the GM best be certain that those who remain, probably one of Struble and Xhekaj, and Adam Engstrom will be ready to step in.
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