D David Reinbacher - EHC Kloten, NL (2023, 5th, MTL)

[JapanesePopstar]

An Austrian article on him, quoting some scouts that say he might even become a 1st round target:

David Reinbacher: Das dringend benötigte ÖEHV-Defensivjuwel

Der 18-jährige Hohenemser dürfte Österreichs nächster hoher NHL-Draftpick werden. In der Schweiz wird er in höchsten Tönen gelobt.

www.laola1.at

 

[GermanSpitfire]

An Austrian article on him, quoting some scouts that say he might even become a 1st round target:

David Reinbacher: Das dringend benötigte ÖEHV-Defensivjuwel

Der 18-jährige Hohenemser dürfte Österreichs nächster hoher NHL-Draftpick werden. In der Schweiz wird er in höchsten Tönen gelobt.

www.laola1.at

If I were to release my updated draft ranking - he would be In my first round. I only have 4 defenders ahead of him at this point.

Caden Price
Mikhail Gulyayev
Cameron Allen
Luka Dragcevic.

 

[Hinterland]

Pretty good article here on Reinbacher - I believe there is an English translation avaliable through google for you English speakers.

Yeah. He's playing heavy minutes for Kloten though so the speculation about him potentially playing for Sarnia is stupid. That's not gonna happen. You don't opt to play junior hockey if you play 18mins per game in the NL. He's gonna play NL until he's NHL ready. Maybe AHL down the road or Liiga/SHL if he wants to prove himself in a different environment but he's done playing club hockey vs kids.

Big righty playing heavy minutes and scoring 10 points in 18 games at the highest European level...he should absolutely be a 1st round candidate.

 

[Boonk]

Yeah. He's playing heavy minutes for Kloten though so the speculation about him potentially playing for Sarnia is stupid. That's not gonna happen. You don't opt to play junior hockey if you play 18mins per game in the NL. He's gonna play NL until he's NHL ready. Maybe AHL down the road or Liiga/SHL if he wants to prove himself in a different environment but he's done playing club hockey vs kids.

Big righty playing heavy minutes and scoring 10 points in 18 games at the highest European level...he should absolutely be a 1st round candidate.

Swiss NL just got loaded with KHL imports fleeing from that league. Its a tough league to play in all things considered and he's excelling and probably getting a decent paycheck with it. I think he should just stay put for another year unless Kloten gets relegated.

Hope he doesnt climb too too much, I'd like my Jets to get another solid RD in the pipeline with Salomonsson.

 

[Breakers]

Right shot, who plays big minutes.

they discussed this on insider trading. Teams just can’t believe the prices some times of right shot defenders because if the rarity of them.

 

[Hinterland]

Swiss NL just got loaded with KHL imports fleeing from that league. Its a tough league to play in all things considered and he's excelling and probably getting a decent paycheck with it. I think he should just stay put for another year unless Kloten gets relegated.

Hope he doesnt climb too too much, I'd like my Jets to get another solid RD in the pipeline with Salomonsson.

Depends on what you call decent. I doubt there are many NL players making less than Reinbacher. He's still on his first pro contract and he signed it when his team was still in the SL. Also, Kloten used to be in financial trouble. I think they're stable now but I doubt they're just gonna hand out big contracts to kids. If he's looking for money, he'll probably move on after this season to play for a different NL team. Not sure that would necessarily be a wise decision though. He's gonna get a pay raise anyway and he should play where it's best for his development. If I was him I'd check the Liiga or SHL options or just stay in Kloten. AHL is something he'll have to look at with whatever team decides to draft him but I think in his case, at least one more year in Europe would make sense.

 

[Speyer]

The NL(A) is now officially producing more Austrian quality prospects than Swiss ones. Can't make that stuff up. As for Reinbacher, he should just stay in Kloten. The SHL isn't that much better, so moving there like Seider did, doesn't have that much upside for him. There is always some risk involved in those kind of moves as well.

 

[Hinterland]

The NL(A) is now officially producing more Austrian quality prospects than Swiss ones. Can't make that stuff up. As for Reinbacher, he should just stay in Kloten. The SHL isn't that much better, so moving there like Seider did, doesn't have that much upside for him. There is always some risk involved in those kind of moves as well.

Yeah but at least in Reinbacher's case you can't say that he took anything away from Swiss prospects. Played almost all of his hockey in Switzerland and earned his way up through a far from ideal Swiss junior system and Swiss junior leagues. He's just better and most likely more determined than the Swiss prospects in his age group. Easily could have stayed in Austria and still played in Switzerland since he grew up right across the border. But he actually opted to play for Kloten and move to Zurich as a young kid so he demonstrated his commitment to the cause early on. Maybe also could have played in Austria far longer without hurting his development but he just wasn't gonna take any chances.

I mean the Swiss pro leagues could erase that Swiss playing license given to foreign players who play their junior hockey in Switzerland. Not sure that would change much for Swiss prospects though. I think we have other problems.

 

[Speyer]

Yeah but at least in Reinbacher's case you can't say that he took anything away from Swiss prospects. Played almost all of his hockey in Switzerland and earned his way up through a far from ideal Swiss junior system and Swiss junior leagues. He's just better and most likely more determined than the Swiss prospects in his age group. Easily could have stayed in Austria and still played in Switzerland since he grew up right across the border. But he actually opted to play for Kloten and move to Zurich as a young kid so he demonstrated his commitment to the cause early on. Maybe also could have played in Austria far longer without hurting his development but he just wasn't gonna take any chances.

I mean the Swiss pro leagues could erase that Swiss playing license given to foreign players who play their junior hockey in Switzerland. Not sure that would change much for Swiss prospects though. I think we have other problems.

I didn't intend to say that we should not give foreign kids a chance if they are good, its just getting a bit frustrating that after there is actually a promising prospect in the league again, of course he has to play for another national team. On top of that the best 04 born forward (maybe besides Taibel who could have played for Austria) that our system produced, is Italian. So this development is a bit concerning. If you look at the lower age junior leagues, there are a couple of prospects that could continue this trend. And yes, there are a lot of things going wrong with our "player formation" and the pro level is just the tip of the iceberg, as we have discussed on this board many times before...

 

[austin63867]

Really important to note as the earliest posts here say, he wasn't seen as a strong offensive player until this year. He's on a good team but his all around game has grown so much playing for Kloten. They've done a great job developing him.

 

[Hinterland]

Really important to note as the earliest posts here say, he wasn't seen as a strong offensive player until this year. He's on a good team but his all around game has grown so much playing for Kloten. They've done a great job developing him.

Lol. Maybe in the SL they were. In the NL not so much. Money rules and Kloten is lightyears away from being competitive financially. That's also why I said that he'll move on after this season if he's looking for money. They're in 9th place which is actually better than expected. Reinbacher is one of just 4 plus players. Tells you everything you need to know.

For his development though a move inside Switzerland wouldn't be ideal. If he gets a good opportunity in Sweden or Finnland then he can look into that but a move for money (or titles) in Switzerland would almost certainly come with a hefty decrease of ice time. Not a good idea at all. Most top NL clubs don't give a rats ass about player development. They're certainly not into developing foreigners who're gone in a couple of years. If he's not considered significantly better than what they already have in their top4, Reinbacher isn't gonna get in there. NL hockey has gotten better in recent years but it's not a development league and tough for youngsters to break through. If I was Reinbacher I'd stay in Kloten.

 

[kabidjan18]

Reinbacher was recruited to Switzerland, at least in part, by Marco Rossi's father. The other big guy he recruited was Vinzenz Rohrer.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

He was spoken of greatly by Corey Pronman. Here’s a short excerpt from his analysis:

“He’s been playing a real role in the top Switzerland league, albeit not an strong club and producing a lot of offense against men. He’s a mobile, 6’2” right-shot defenseman who can contribute at both ends… There is a lot in his game that looks like a potential top-4 defenseman”

 

[Masch78]

It's not Austria, unfortunately. Those kids are good because they are leaving for Switzerland (Rossi, Reinbacher) or Sweden (Kasper, maybe Scherzer) at an early age. The Austrian developmental system is no better than before...

That is not totally right, it is not so great from lets say 14y upwards. Down from there it is quite good. But we're sort of shitty when it comes to transition to junior and pro.

 

[HungryFrank]

That is not totally right, it is not so great from lets say 14y upwards. Down from there it is quite good. But we're sort of shitty when it comes to transition to junior and pro.

Techically we can say JJ Peterka did those years in Austria and he seems like a legit NHLer.

If they made Alps be a strong league, there would be a chance, but they decided to make it a league for the masses that want to pretend they are hockey players.

 

[NatusVincere]

Before the game against Biel his junior coach was asked how he would describe Reinbacher. Besides his talent it’s interesting to know that the first what he said was that Reinbacher is super humble. And the second was that he is a work horse.

And yes, Kloten is besides Ajoie and Lagnau the weakest team in the league. They took almost the whole SL roster in the NLA + some imports (that’s like playing in the NHL with a AHL Roster). And especially Ruotsalainen and Metsola played like shit the first weeks. So Reinbacher playing this heavy minutes that good with Kloten is quite a big accomplishment.

 

[Masch78]

Techically we can say JJ Peterka did those years in Austria and he seems like a legit NHLer.

If they made Alps be a strong league, there would be a chance, but they decided to make it a league for the masses that want to pretend they are hockey players.

If they make the Alps League a strong league it should be called ICE Hockey League ;-)

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Played well at the Deutschland Cup - played in all three games and even picked up an assist - one of the youngest players to ever represent the Austrian mens team.

He has kept up his strong scoring pace in the National league too - posting a .5 PPG pace with 2 goals and 11 assists in 26 games.

He will be a key piece to Austria‘s bid to avoid relegation at the WJC this year. I think he’ll have his coming out party there where he’ll start to rocket up a lot of draft lists.

 

[wingerdinger]

Played well at the Deutschland Cup - played in all three games and even picked up an assist - one of the youngest players to ever represent the Austrian mens team.

He has kept up his strong scoring pace in the National league too - posting a .5 PPG pace with 2 goals and 11 assists in 26 games.

He will be a key piece to Austria‘s bid to avoid relegation at the WJC this year. I think he’ll have his coming out party there where he’ll start to rocket up a lot of draft lists.

I'm skeptical about how much the world jrs will help him. I fear Reinbacher is going to be completely over runned with zero support from his teammates.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

I'm skeptical about how much the world jrs will help him. I fear Reinbacher is going to be completely over runned with zero support from his teammates.

It’s possible - we’ve seen it before with Marco Rossi being overshadowed from a terrible Austria team. However even at the last WJC in the summer, he was one of only a few bright spots on the team - I also think he’ll have more offensive support this time around especially with Kasper playing for Austria.

In paricular he was the only defender that seemed confident enough to create any sort of offence themselves. He was also very physically imposing and was an anchor of sorts for that team. I only expect these to continue.

 

[wingerdinger]

It’s possible - we’ve seen it before with Marco Rossi being overshadowed from a terrible Austria team. However even at the last WJC in the summer, he was one of only a few bright spots on the team - I also think he’ll have more offensive support this time around especially with Kasper playing for Austria.

In paricular he was the only defender that seemed confident enough to create any sort of offence themselves. He was also very physically imposing and was an anchor of sorts for that team. I only expect these to continue.

kaspers not going to this years wjrs, which is really disappointing. I hope you're right. I just remember the cancelled wjr and Kasper was made to look like a chump.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

kaspers not going to this years wjrs, which is really disappointing. I hope you're right. I just remember the cancelled wjr and Kasper was made to look like a chump.

That’s such a shame. I didn’t see that they released their roster - Detroit is starting to be known for doing this, they did it with Seider too but when he was in his 19 year old season, not 18 year old year like Kasper. I’ll have to check the roster out though.

And I know what you mean - hopefully this year things will be different - Reinbacher at the very least can show off how good his defensive game is as he‘ll have to use it a lot in the tournament haha

 

[Hinterland]

It’s possible - we’ve seen it before with Marco Rossi being overshadowed from a terrible Austria team. However even at the last WJC in the summer, he was one of only a few bright spots on the team - I also think he’ll have more offensive support this time around especially with Kasper playing for Austria.

In paricular he was the only defender that seemed confident enough to create any sort of offence themselves. He was also very physically imposing and was an anchor of sorts for that team. I only expect these to continue.

Rossi played that tournament half dead suffering from long covid. I still can't believe the Austrians continued to play him there. That was horrible. Gotta care for your player's health.

 

[JapanesePopstar]

Some in depth scouting profiles on Reinbacher:

2023 NHL DRAFT: EARLY SEASON FAVOURITES SERIES WITH VIDEO - SWITZERLAND - David Reinbacher

McKeens provides analysis with video on an early season favourite for the 2023 NHL Draft, David Reinbacher.

www.mckeenshockey.com

2023 NHL Draft Player Profile: David Reinbacher - Recruit Scouting %

Player Information Position: Defenseman Height: 6’2” (189cm) Weight: 85kg (187lbs) Shoots: Right Birthday: Oct 25, 2004 (18 years old) Introduction David Reinbacher is a big framed 6’2 defender who has a strong offensive game yet likes to play the body and can defend well off the rush...

www.recruitscouting.com

 

[GermanSpitfire]

For what it is worth - Roman Josi in the NL in his draft year put up 8 points in 35 games played.

Reinbacher already has 14 in 28 games and is one of the highest producing first time draft eligible NL players in the history of the league. He is a defender btw.

I think some sleep on how impressive just the stat sheet is - let alone the eye test that shows his defensive prowess and ability’s in transition - plus a physical edge.