David Reinbacher Adapting Quickly to New Home in Laval

The Montreal Canadiens prospect has been working towards quickly adjusting to North American style of hockey playing for the Laval Rocket.

David Reinbacher began his North American professional career with a three games in less than three days in Belleville and Toronto. After the brief weekend in Ontario, the team crossed the border for a game in Utica, New York on Wednesday. With all due respect to those markets, it's not the fanciest way to begin your professional career.

Immediately following the loss to the Comets, the Rocket travelled back home, arriving in Laval in the wee hours of Thursday. Jean-Francois Houle gave his team the day off to rest from the travel and hit the ice on Friday for a game day skate. 

Reinbacher spent time at Place Bell before the road trip and was familiar with the facilities, but he hadn't experienced a game inside the building. He finally did on Friday night in an important divisional matchup against the Belleville Senators. 

"It was really special. Crowd was cheering for us, it helped us and gave us energy," Reinbacher said about the 10,290 fans at Place Bell. When the defenseman touched the puck for the first time, he received a huge cheer. 

"Montreal is a crazy hockey town and the fans are going crazy. For sure, I expected it a little bit from the fans."

The Canadiens most recent first round draft pick has had a good start to his AHL career.

"He's was excellent. Good passes, gets physically involved and has a good stick. He covers a lot of ice with his reach. He pinched in offensively a couple of times. For a young defenseman, he handles things really well. The small ice doesn't seem to affect him that much. I like that he goes in the corners and that is really important for a young defenseman to show that you're able to play physical," said Houle evaluating Friday's game. 

An example of Reinbacher playing physical was on Saturday when he delivered a hit in the corner to Jacob Larsson. Larsson didn't appreciate the clean hit and retaliated with unpenalized cross check and slash on Reinbacher. William Trudeau came in defence of his teammate and dropped the gloves against Zack Ostapchuck on the sequence. 

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There's always a lot of pressure on a fifth overall draft pick, especially in a hockey market like Montreal. He has not fallen into the trap of trying to do too much to make a good first impression. 

"All we told him is to go on the ice and have some fun," Houle noted. "It's normal that there's pressure on him, but sometimes it's good pressure and it doesn't seem to affect him. He goes to play hockey and we encourage him. He doesn't look stressed out there."

The key to Reinbacher's early success has been to keep it simple. "He's kept it simple. There's no need to be flashy. The good NHL defensemen aren't flashy," noted the coach. 

The Canadiens standard process is not to bombard new players with too much information and gradually teaching them concepts. Houle is using the same approach for the 19-year-old. Assistant coach Kelly Buchberger has spent time with him in the video room. 

"He's a quick learner. We've talked about a few structure things and right away he knew," shared Houle. "His adaptation to our team and structure has been excellent."

By no means has Reinbacher been perfect since joining the Rocket, but he has shown the qualities that drove the organization to select him fifth overall. 

He made a glaring mistake in Saturday's game with a missed coverage that led to the Senators scoring  breakaway goal early in the second period. The entire team looked fatigued that afternoon. 

"You got to prepared for it. I mean that's business. You got to play hockey and have to do your job every day and if you're not ready it's probably hard. I'm excited to play every game, every single shift and help the team to get into the playoffs," answered the Austrian native when asked about the tough schedule to begin his AHL career.

Reinbacher's addition to the defensive unit is a definite upgrade during Laval's playoff push to earn a playoff spot. 

"It gives us a very solid right side. He's able to do good zone exits, so we have the puck more on our sticks instead of it leaving from the boards," Houle explained. 

"Really solid defenseman. Doesn't make a lot of mistakes for such a young defender. I think he has a huge potential. He's already playing like a good pro and going from Europe to here, I can imagine how hard it can be, but he's handling it really well and he's a big part of the team," Jakub Dobes said. 

The Canadiens management was criticized when they selected Reinbacher at the draft and hoping that his first taste of North American hockey is an indication of his potential for a NHL career. 

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