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

[Hinterland]

So far so good for Reinbacher and Demidov. Both of them have looked pretty good playing vs men and are no doubt very promising prospects who have so far justified their draft position. Not a fan of comparing prospects with zero NHL games and franchise or even generational NHL players though. That's an unfair thing to do, no matter if we're talking Reinbacher, Demidov or any other prospect. NHL isn't quite the same as AHL or European pro hockey and you can't expect a prospect to put an entire NHL franchise on his shoulders before his rookie season even started.

 

[shello]

Could a good comparable for him be Mattias Ohlund?

People forget how good Ohlund was. Habs would be fortunate if Reinbacher has a similar plateau

 

[montreal]

People forget how good Ohlund was. Habs would be fortunate if Reinbacher has a similar plateau

yea I would be stoked if he turns into that level of NHLer as it would do wonders for the Habs blueline to add someone like that at RD.

 

[Ford Prefect]

NHL Players selected at the 5th draft position at hockeydb.com

All players selected with the 5th position in the NHL draft

www.hockeydb.com

I think you're overrating the players drafted at 5. Except for Jagr, Price, and obviously Demidov no real elite stars. Second tier you've got Scott Stevens and maybe Lindholm and Sanderson. Ohlund would be the second best dman drafted 5th after Stevens if he were drafted there.

You've seen Scott Stevens play, right? Ask any player in the '90's if he was elite or not.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Things I've learned from Habs fans in recent weeks:

Lane Hutson = Bobby Orr
Ivan Demidov = Jaromir Jagr

Pretty big expectations for the Habs now. Gotta think they need to win at least 2-3 cups by 2030.

You obviously haven't been paying attention. No one said Lane Hutson was a poor man's Bobby Orr. That's ridiculous.



Bobby Orr was a poor man's Lane Hutson. Stupid idiot.

 

[Garbageyuk]

You've seen Scott Stevens play, right? Ask any player in the '90's if he was elite or not.

He was good, but a lot of it was because guys were scared to go anywhere near where he was on the ice due to his propensity for turning brains into scrambled eggs lol

 

[Garbageyuk]

Alex Edler or Ryan Murray. Good all around but often injured.

I’d say more like Patrice Brisebois if he stays healthy. Nemec is Ryan Murray (if all goes well) lmao

 

[StreetHawk]

People forget how good Ohlund was. Habs would be fortunate if Reinbacher has a similar plateau

Ohlund was a rock. Sadly his eye injury likely limited his offensive vision but he was mostly a low to mid 30 point guy. Could have been a mid 40’s guy I think if he had worn a visor when he started his career.
He would get the Iggy matchup whenever Ban and Cal played. Be like reinbacher matching up against Brady Tkachuk.

 

[Ezpz]

You've seen Scott Stevens play, right? Ask any player in the '90's if he was elite or not.

Elite has a higher bar.

He's clearly behind the following 80's/90's contemporaries: Coffey, Bourque, MacInnis, Housley, Murphy, Leetch, Chelios, Lidstrom, Howe, Blake, Robinson, Potvin, Neidermayer, Pronger, Wilson, Langway and possibly more.

Top 10 sure you can argue it in 4-5 years of his career, but largely I would not classify him as elite. The same way I wouldn't call Mike Richards elite for his 3-4 year stretch as a top 5ish C.

Carey Price was the best player in the entire league without any refutation as one of the few Hart/Pearson winners. Jaromir Jagr the same. That or close to it is elite. Zero Norris' is not really elite. In his absolute career year he finished second in voting. He had a worse Norris voting record than Weber who many would say isn't elite.

Hall of fame sure but there's lots of non-elite players in there like Cam Neely.

 

[Ford Prefect]

He was good, but a lot of it was because guys were scared to go anywhere near where he was on the ice due to his propensity for turning brains into scrambled eggs lol

I think it was more one particularly nasty 'generational' talent, that never learned to play with his head up. But hey, if you've got players scared before they take the ice, that only adds to the argument.

Let's not forget the man played 1635 games and recorded 908 points. And in 22 seasons in the show, he was never a minus player. Yeah, this guy was elite.

 

[Frank Drebin]

I’d say more like Patrice Brisebois if he stays healthy. Nemec is Ryan Murray (if all goes well) lmao

Brisebois seems like such an unflattering comp even though he had a very long and successful career with a stanley cup

 

[Captain Clutch]

Elite has a higher bar.

He's clearly behind the following 80's/90's contemporaries: Coffey, Bourque, MacInnis, Housley, Murphy, Leetch, Chelios, Lidstrom, Howe, Blake, Robinson, Potvin, Neidermayer, Pronger, Wilson, Langway and possibly more.

Top 10 sure you can argue it in 4-5 years of his career, but largely I would not classify him as elite. The same way I wouldn't call Mike Richards elite for his 3-4 year stretch as a top 5ish C.

Carey Price was the best player in the entire league without any refutation as one of the few Hart/Pearson winners. Jaromir Jagr the same. That or close to it is elite. Zero Norris' is not really elite. In his absolute career year he finished second in voting. He had a worse Norris voting record than Weber who many would say isn't elite.

Hall of fame sure but there's lots of non-elite players in there like Cam Neely.

I think Stevens was just as good as many of the players you listed as elite. He was also one of the clutchest play-off performers of all-time. I respectfully disagree that with the statement that he was not elite. He was an absolute terror and one of the scariest players to play against in the league. Other than perhaps Pronger, he's the toughest guy of all those you listed and feared perhaps the most of all of them.

 

[Garbageyuk]

Brisebois seems like such an unflattering comp even though he had a very long and successful career with a stanley cup

It is kind of, considering where Reinbacher was drafted. However, at this point, if we get a Brisebois caliber D out of Reinbacher, I’d be ecstatic.

Was also kind of hoping he could be a Hamrlik type of D (sans the 60 point outlier season), but I kind of doubt it at this point. He’s lost a shit load of development time, even if he can stay healthy from here on out, which is looking dubious.

 

[Boyon90]

It is kind of, considering where Reinbacher was drafted. However, at this point, if we get a Brisebois caliber D out of Reinbacher, I’d be ecstatic.

Was also kind of hoping he could be a Hamrlik type of D (sans the 60 point outlier season), but I kind of doubt it at this point. He’s lost a shit load of development time, even if he can stay healthy from here on out, which is looking dubious.

Brisebois was so funny because he was so well spoken in french, almost sounded snob, cant say I liked his game that much

 

[Garbageyuk]

Brisebois was so funny because he was so well spoken in french, almost sounded snob, cant say I liked his game that much

I liked him. He was underrated. The problem was he was a below average #2/very good #3 calibre D who was forced to play #1D minutes on shitty teams. Not his fault. People here act like he was some scrub bottom-pairing guy.

 

[Boyon90]

So reinbacher as a 3 best D would be good for you

Ъуъ

 

[Garbageyuk]

So reinbacher as a 3 best D would be good for you

Ъуъ

I’m saying that at this point, I wouldn’t be mad if that’s how he turned out. I’m not gonna make any firm predictions, but things aren’t looking great right now.

 

[Boyon90]

The talent is there, he better stop getting injured

 

[Andrei79]

Brisebois was so funny because he was so well spoken in french, almost sounded snob, cant say I liked his game that much

I say this respectfully, but do you speak French ? If we're talking about Patrice Brisebois the last thing that comes to mind is well spoken. He had trouble speaking a whole sentence without stumbling in his words. He sounded awful.

 

[wetcoast]

I think it was more one particularly nasty 'generational' talent, that never learned to play with his head up. But hey, if you've got players scared before they take the ice, that only adds to the argument.

Let's not forget the man played 1635 games and recorded 908 points. And in 22 seasons in the show, he was never a minus player. Yeah, this guy was elite.

Scott stevens is routinely brought up in the top 30 Dmen of all time discussions (being very liberal here as he is probably top 20ish in the HOH section).

This is circa the top 60 dman list 2011-2012 project in the HOH section.

Thread 'HOH Top 60 Defensemen of All Time'

Nov 14, 2011

This is the final list of the top defensemen from all of hockey history, as determined by the History of Hockey community at HFBoards:

Rank	No.	Player	Height	Weight	Born	Died	Career	Nationality
1	4	Bobby Orr	6'0"	199	1948

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] ...

​

• TheDevilMadeMe
• Replies: 629
• Forum: The History of Hockey

Among post expansion Dmen 1967+ he ranks 11th and 19th overall, that's elite.

Reinbacher is the type of guy we might look back on in 20 years and say the guy was never a fantasy hockey god but man what a great player very solid and was a + on the ice (similar in the way Scott stevens was).

I don't like player comparisons at all but in terms of value I'd expect a Ryan Suter type, without the edge as a best case scenario and that's extremely good.

 

[Boyon90]

I say this respectfully, but do you speak French ? If we're talking about Patrice Brisebois the last thing that comes to mind is well spoken. He had trouble speaking a whole sentence without stumbling in his words. He sounded awful.

let's see, you are right about him fumbling on his words, I had forgotten but his speach is still more clear than most other french speaking players, idk there is a snob taint to his voice, french is my native language btw dont test me there

1 point for me, 1 point for your fumbling argument


I give this one to you


I keep this one

 

[Jeune Poulet]

Brisebois was so funny because he was so well spoken in french

Who can forget his praising of a goaltender's penis?

The Molière of analysts!

 

[MS]

Elite has a higher bar.

He's clearly behind the following 80's/90's contemporaries: Coffey, Bourque, MacInnis, Housley, Murphy, Leetch, Chelios, Lidstrom, Howe, Blake, Robinson, Potvin, Neidermayer, Pronger, Wilson, Langway and possibly more.

Top 10 sure you can argue it in 4-5 years of his career, but largely I would not classify him as elite. The same way I wouldn't call Mike Richards elite for his 3-4 year stretch as a top 5ish C.

Carey Price was the best player in the entire league without any refutation as one of the few Hart/Pearson winners. Jaromir Jagr the same. That or close to it is elite. Zero Norris' is not really elite. In his absolute career year he finished second in voting. He had a worse Norris voting record than Weber who many would say isn't elite.

Hall of fame sure but there's lots of non-elite players in there like Cam Neely.

Scott Stevens was a top-5 defender in the NHL for roughly 15 years. He's the definition of elite.

Listing Phil Housley ahead of him is the definition of comedy. Maybe Stephane Lebeau was better than Guy Carbonneau, too.

Of the guys you listed :

Coffey, Bourque, and Lidstrom are clearly better than Stevens.

MacInnis, Leetch, Chelios, Pronger and maybe Niedermayer are on the same tier.

Housley, Murphy, Wilson, Blake, and Langway are all clearly worse.

Howe, Robinson, and Potvin are from a different era and are 10-15 years older than Stevens and all had their last prime seasons before Stevens turned 22.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Scott Stevens was a top-5 defender in the NHL for roughly 15 years. He's the definition of elite.

Listing Phil Housley ahead of him is the definition of comedy. Maybe Stephane Lebeau was better than Guy Carbonneau, too.

Of the guys you listed :

Coffey, Bourque, and Lidstrom are clearly better than Stevens.

MacInnis, Leetch, Chelios, Pronger and maybe Niedermayer are on the same tier.

Housley, Murphy, Wilson, Blake, and Langway are all clearly worse.

Howe, Robinson, and Potvin are from a different era and are 10-15 years older than Stevens and all had their last prime seasons before Stevens turned 22.

I'd put Chelios, Pronger, MacInnis, and probably Chara on the same tier with Stevens. There are differences to their respective games, but they impacted the game about equally. I would have Bourque and Lidstrom clearly ahead of him. Paul Coffey was great, the best offensive defenceman not named Bobby Orr. The problem with ascertaining his greatness, in my opinion, is that he played on stacked teams his entire career. The early to mid-80's Oilers, straight to the peaking Penguins, to LA with Gretzky again, to Detroit right when they became a juggernaught. The only seasons he wasn't elite were the ones in Chicago, Hartford, and 2 of 3 seasons with Philadelphia. That also corresponds with the twilight of his career, though, and age getss us all. He also didn't bring much a physical dimension to his game. Certainly great, but I wouldn't put him a tier above, personally.

Phil Housley and especially Larry Murphy are criminally underrated (probably because they're disgusting gingers ), but I wouldn't put them quite on the level of the aforementioned.

I think I would have to but Robinson clearly and Potvin slightly ahead of him, though some of that is conjecture as I wasn't able to see them in their best years. I don't remember enough of Mark Howe to comment.