Prospect Info: David Reinbacher

[Frank Drebin]

Do these athletes read their DM,s? I can't imagine Connor McDavid opening his instagram or whatever they use and reading 100s of messages every day.

Has to be one of the first things they tell young players to either ignore the messages, shut them off or ignore them completely.

Didn't the reining conn Smythe winner get into a cringey war of words on twitter a few years back?

 

[tooji]

Do these athletes read their DM,s? I can't imagine Connor McDavid opening his instagram or whatever they use and reading 100s of messages every day.

Has to be one of the first things they tell young players to either ignore the messages, shut them off or ignore them completely.

Didn't the reining conn Smythe winner get into a cringey war of words on twitter a few years back?

I think there is a stark transition from random 18 year old hockey prospect to professional hockey player signed to montreal canadiens. These kids have never faced that level public spotlight before. Social media also magnifies it a lot I would think.

 

[Bombshell11]

Guy Boucher loves the pick, says that the swiss league is better than the AHL.

 

[ReHabs]

Go pound sand.

Your line-by-line replies are a bit hard to follow especially when they split through linked statements. You've made a hostile confrontation where there really didn't need to be.

The commentary I put forth in reply to @Schooner Guy, @BaseballCoach, and @Garo was I believe simply that there was no master-plan which meant the Habs were exceptionally so focused on the transition game in 2023 that they held it as a draft priority. No, rather I believe simply that the Habs ranked Reinbacher over Michkov for a variety of reasons and so they picked him. Some evidence for my position is that in 2022 the first two picks of the rebuild, including the lottery pick which has a more direct impact on the NHL roster due to their odds of making it, were forwards not defenders. The 1OA could've gone anywhere given how there was no front-runner as the 2022 draft approached and the Habs specifically did not mention any defenders in their top3 options leading to the draft. It seems clear to me they just picked whoever they thought was best at that position, in both draft years.

In 2023 Had they had the 3OA they wouldn't have picked a d-man, I think if they had the 4OA they would've picked Smith. There is no master-plan or iterative stepwise approach -- so that rationalization for Reinbacher at 5OA is unnecessarily complicated. They clearly picked BPA rather than need -- this is an argument partially in defence of the Habs and Big Brain Hughes, not in opposition to them!!

For the xième time, Michkov comes with pluses and minuses and question marks:

Same analysis can be placed on every prospect, even the very best. We don't need to do the exercise to acknowledge that a portion of the "outraged fans" felt like the analysis was wrong -- and given the Habs' history at the draft table, it's not fair to bludgeon those fans and call them impatient or ignorant. I don't feel like this should be a controversial statement -- results will follow and reveal if the Habs got it right.

Why is cheering for Reinbacher mutually exclusive from having wished for Michkov?

I find both can co-exist. I don’t need to reject one in order to appreciate the other.

Fully agree and I hope others will as well. It goes both ways but I think as Reinbacher is a Hab now, the Michkov noise will die off until the rubber hits the road in a few years and they're both playing. AKost vs Later 2003 Picks and Kotkaniemi vs Brady Tkachuk both haven't died off even though none of them play for the Habs anymore... it's wishful thinking to figure we won't hear the end of "Michkov" no matter what happens. If Reinbacher totally eclipses Michkov there will be a lot of gloating coming out of here too.

How would you qualify how Reinbacher played this year ?

I think he played in an entirely different country and league than Leo Carlsson, for one. So it's hard to compare them even if one plays C and the other D.

His stat profile seems exceptional for his age. His highlights are hard for me to parse because I don't know intuitively the strength of the Swiss National League (NLA) -- I talked it down leading up to the draft because all the high scorers are basically late 30s never-beens who never made it in the NHL... but in Reinbacher's defence the NLA is not a rookie-friendly development league and he's still managed to carve out TOI and a big role as a very young player. He's definitely not a reach at 5OA even if I personally didn't think he was a draft priority.

 

[HuGort]

Top pair Dmen don’t get traded either

Top pairing Defenseman we usually can get. Weber, Markov, Subban for examples. But the electric 100 point guy we haven't had here for 30 years. Despite many attempts, Hossa, Sundin, etc... Causing us lose several Cups and forcing us to play tight defensive system many years. Carbonneau, Therrin, Julien years be examples.

Stars won't sign here. Leaving only drafting them.

 

[yianik]

HHabs have the resources and access to specialists, if they want to deal with it. Wouldn’t be surprised if both some minors as well as judgment impaired adults were involved. Let the cops sort it out. We’re just innocent bystanders hoping for the best. Nothing more we can do.

Yeah I know, put the pitchfork back in the barn.

It's just an awful thing for a kid to have to put up with at what should be the happiest time of his life.

And you know that after players come to Montreal, they love it, but it's the coming that's the bigger issue. Obviously this garbage doesn't help.

The big guys need to do what Gainey did with Brisbois and aggressively protect the player. As a fan I can do nothing but hope the team does what it should.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

Top pairing Defenseman we usually can get. Weber, Markov, Subban for examples. But the electric 100 point guy we haven't had here for 30 years. Despite many attempts, Hossa, Sundin, etc... Causing us lose several Cups and forcing us to play tight defensive system many years. Carbonneau, Therrin, Julien years be examples.

Stars won't sign here. Leaving only drafting them.

Yout Markov and Subban takes are like Tampa fans saying "we can usually get great offensive players, just look at Kucherov and point". As for Weber, Habs had to give up a former Norris winning, perennial all star in his prime. Legitimate top pairing D that have a chance at being all situation number eating non pylons are extremely hard to come by. There are probably only a hand full in the NHL that qualify for that, probably only 10-15 if we look at it realistically

 

[ReHabs]

Yout Markov and Subban takes are like Tampa fans saying "we can usually get great offensive players, just look at Kucherov and point". As for Weber, Habs had to give up a former Norris winning, perennial all star in his prime. Legitimate top pairing D that have a chance at being all situation number eating non pylons are extremely hard to come by. There are probably only a hand full in the NHL that qualify for that, probably only 10-15 if we look at it realistically

I think the Habs see Reinbacher as a future top45 dman rather than a future top15 dman. I could be wrong but that’s the impression I get with the “D2 who won’t run the power play” talk. It would be entitled and put unnecessary pressure on Reinbacher to expect more than that — it’s already very high expectations as it is.

Nothing wrong with that, just my impression.

 

[Jaynki]

Rainbacker solid defense but some point Habs going to have to put a Tkachuk or Eichel type package together and trade for a star. They made big difference in Vegas and Florida. Need star to win. Star don't come up for trade often though. We may have missed our only opportunity. Quite gamble Hughes took

Very valid point.

Its as true for top pairing RD as it is for offensive star tho. Both are needed in the organisation.

Also, i know of a team that happens to be big rivals of us that would gladly trade their Michkov (Marner, Nylander) for a Reinbacher.

 

[Rapala]

They tried to leak it but they did it all wrong. They tried to do it by disparaging Michkov, but they underestimated how much a large % of the fanbase loved him and wanted him.

They should have inundated the articles with Reinbacher praise and stuff instead, and how much the brass loves him.

The mistake was this: They leaked they weren't picking Michkov, not that they were picking Reinbacher. It's not a good look, and gives ammunition to all of us who thought the decision was corporate cowardice.

For me it has absolutely nothing to do with the % of the fanbase and everything to do with the narrative. Generational Player Franchise Player etc etc etc.
You are actually a perfect example. If these people believe as fervently as you do that we passed on the next McJesus this is exactly the blowback I would expect. Except for perhaps the idiots who went to what could be considered as the equivalent of going postal on social media. Wright had very close to the same percentage of the fan base wanting him and the outrage lasted what an hour?

 

[Rapala]

Since when did “dynamic” become important for Dman?

Habs big-3 (Robinson, Savard, Lapointe) were not “dynamic”, Lidstrom was not “dynamic”, Pietrangelo isn’t “dynamic”

No they were dynamite and it starts with blowing up a play and moving it the other way.

 

[Rapala]

Matheson was hurt most of the time that Caufield played. Monahan went down and took the balance out of the attack at a time when Suzuki was ppg.

Give Suzuki and Caufield 3 top D tilting the ice and a linemate that is worthy of the role, while Dach sucks up some attention - and Suzi probably gets close to 100 points and Caufield 50 goals.

Let's go with PPG and 40 goals as realistic for now.

 

[BenchBrawl]

For me it has absolutely nothing to do with the % of the fanbase and everything to do with the narrative. Generational Player Franchise Player etc etc etc.
You are actually a perfect example. If these people believe as fervently as you do that we passed on the next McJesus this is exactly the blowback I would expect. Except for perhaps the idiots who went to what could be considered as the equivalent of going postal on social media. Wright had very close to the same percentage of the fan base wanting him and the outrage lasted what an hour?

Wright had a mediocre season, so while a majority supported him, the support wasn't as deep as it was for Michkov.

We have no serious reason to see Michkov in a different light than when he was toe-to-toe with Bedard at the U18 in 2021. Then you watch him play, and he's an absolute snake of a player. He's f***ing amazing.

For Wright, it's another story.

Anyway, your point goes hand to hand with mine: They should have created a counter-narrative. Life is made of narratives, for better or for worse.

I am looking forward to seeing Reinbacher in Laval and in Montreal. I have nothing but love for him.

 

[Mrb1p]

Do these athletes read their DM,s? I can't imagine Connor McDavid opening his instagram or whatever they use and reading 100s of messages every day.

Has to be one of the first things they tell young players to either ignore the messages, shut them off or ignore them completely.

Didn't the reining conn Smythe winner get into a cringey war of words on twitter a few years back?

Voracek is notorious for replying to hate tweets. A lot of them do. Marchessault too.

 

[Rapala]

I usually agree with you Dino but not here

It was pretty clear that they where not taking Michkov, some just didn’t want to see the truth

I'm fairly certain the people actually involved in the draft knew we weren't picking Michkov including Philadelphia who snuck him over to their facilities.
I believe the Habs Coms dept. thought they had done enough damage control with the blurbs that were coming out of our mainstream media a while ago.
That indeed was a total miscalculation. They stopped reporting on the spin they were trying to create and that wasn't smart. Michkov didn't fit their Ideology and they should have kept hammering away at that. Why are the Flyers trying to trade up? It can't be for Michkov because we aren't going in that direction and Arizona is not touching him with a ten foot pole. I think releasing stories like that could have helped mitigate the initial response by conditioning more peoples thought processes. As far as the crazies go however maybe you are right and they were lost causes no matter what.

 

[Goldthorpe]

We have no serious reason to see Michkov in a different light than when he was toe-to-toe with Bedard at the U18 in 2021.

I understand people wanting Michkov, but I don't understand claims like this. For the whole of winter, almost every time Michkov was discussed, his numerous red flags were mentioned to. When the table is set so soon on why Michkov won't be drafted as high as expected, no one can't really act surprised when it actually happens.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I understand people wanting Michkov, but I don't understand claims like this. For the whole of winter, almost every time Michkov was discussed, his numerous red flags were mentioned to. When the table is set so soon on why Michkov won't be drafted as high as expected, no one can't really act surprised when it actually happens.

I don't consider those "red flags" to be very serious, personally.

A real red flag is Shane Wright not even looking like a 1st rounder after you watch several games of him, and then him coming out and claiming he deserves to be #1. THAT'S a red flag. If Michkov, who is f***ing amazing, is having a bit of an ego trip in Russia, it's not ideal, but it's far from sufficient reason to pass on him for me. Or the silly comments about his defensive game. Who f***ing cares? He's a 17 years old offensive phenom.

 

[Goldthorpe]

I don't consider those "red flags" to be very serious, personally.

Well ok, but giving how often they were repeated, and how Michkov ended up dropping, I think it's safe that many teams including the habs were considering them serious enough.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Well ok, but giving how often they were repeated, and how Michkov ended up dropping, I think it's safe that many teams including the habs were considering them serious enough.

Many teams will regret that decision, this is what I believe.

And I like every prospect taken over him, except that Russian D, whom I don't know enough about.

 

[Jaynki]

No they were dynamite and it starts with blowing up a play and moving it the other way.

Exactly what Reinbacher does in spade. Its exactly his "elite" quality. Breaking a play and starting the offense.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I think the Habs see Reinbacher as a future top45 dman rather than a future top15 dman. I could be wrong but that’s the impression I get with the “D2 who won’t run the power play” talk. It would be entitled and put unnecessary pressure on Reinbacher to expect more than that — it’s already very high expectations as it is.

Nothing wrong with that, just my impression.

Yeah never want to set expectations too high but even as a Guhle top pairing believer from way back, I think Reinbacher has better potential. Again, I hate the term no. 1 D even if I use it sometimes because of colloquial conversations I'm in, but Reinbacher will do more for a team than let say a Quinn Hughes who can't play D and needs to be sheltered 5 on 5. I prefer a Weber type D than a Letang type of D. Weber only put up over 50 pts three times in his career and was basically the no. 1 D of team Canada in the 2010s. Reinbacher has that same defensive potential imo

 

[BenchBrawl]

Reinbacher does have the face of a blueline superstar.

This was my physiognomic post of the day !

 

[Jaynki]

Many teams will regret that decision, this is what I believe.

And I like every prospect taken over him, except that Russian D, whom I don't know enough about.

Its both relatives to how Michkov develops and the prospect these team got in front of him develop relative to Michkov.

For example, i think Makar vs Heiskanen, every team in the league would go Makar.

But do Dallas regret picking Heiskanen right in frront of him? I think they are very happy with their choice in the end.

Now this being said, i would not bet against Michkov. I think Smith or Fantilli has "more chances" to not reach their upside.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Its both relatives to how Michkov develops and the prospect these team got in front of him develop relative to Michkov.

For example, i think Makar vs Heiskanen, every team in the league would go Makar.

But do Dallas regret picking Heiskanen right in frront of him? I think they are very happy with their choice in the end.

You can both regret not taking Makar and being very happy having Heiskanen on your team.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

 

[JRichard]

I don't consider those "red flags" to be very serious, personally.

A real red flag is Shane Wright not even looking like a 1st rounder after you watch several games of him, and then him coming out and claiming he deserves to be #1. THAT'S a red flag. If Michkov, who is f***ing amazing, is having a bit of an ego trip in Russia, it's not ideal, but it's far from sufficient reason to pass on him for me. Or the silly comments about his defensive game. Who f***ing cares? He's a 17 years old offensive phenom.

How should an intelligent fan rate Cole Caufield’s defensive game?
Fine? Strong? Weak? Absent?
seems to me most dont even care if he ever goes on other side of the ice.