Prospect Info: David Reinbacher

[Lafleurs Guy]

The fact that PK and Price didn't have the rosters is exactly what I'm saying. To get the type of offensive firepower you need to complement a PK and Price, you have to draft them.

Regarding McJesus and Drai, they are now part of a perennial contender. Our playoff success was always a random unrepeatable fluke. Skinner screwed them last year. It got to a point where almost everything was going in. No one can win in that suituation. Give them at least a respectable goalie and we might be singing different tune about them this year.

To answer your question, yes, I think Michkov is a better prospect than Reinbacher. I think he's the second-best prospect in the draft while Reinbacher was a late-rising 2-way defenseman that squeaked into the top 10 and I believe was overvalued due to him being the best defenseman in a weak draft for D. I'm not sold on him. Here are my issues:

-He doesn't have the size to be dominant (He's 6'2", not 6'7" Victor Hedman)
-He's physical in that he goes into corners and battles, but he's not physical at all in the punishing sense
-His offensive upside is questionable. His shot is decent and his passing is ok, but I don't see high-end offensive decision-making going on there.
-To give him his due, his skating is pretty good.

Now, Michkov has his deficiencies as well. He's not big (though he acquits himself well in corners and puck battles), his skating is average and he gets lost in his zone a la Will Smith. However, the offensive instinct is chess-master level, the puck skills are out of this world, and the shot is a laser.

I usually find elite skill translates to the NHL better than just being ok at everything. Reinbacher's profile worries me because there's nothing about his game that screams dominant #1 defenseman... And you shouldn't be drafting just Ok players at 5 overall.

6’2 isn’t big enough to be dominant? Did I read that right?

 

[Twisted Sinister]

6’2 isn’t big enough to be dominant? Did I read that right?

I think 6'2" with the specific tools he has makes him unlikely to be dominant. He's 1 inch taller than your average NHL defenseman, he's not really physical, and his offensive tools don't look great. How do you want him to dominate?

Year and a half in…

Unfortunate that we draft first in a sketchy year but last year’s draft was killer. I think he’s done well with what we’ve had to work with so far.

Precisely... This draft was killer, and we went with a relatively milquetoast 2-way D rather than an elite hockey talent that was consensus top 5 (and top 2 for many). Waste of a good draft year, in my opinion. Especially when next year's top 15 is quite good for defensemen, I don't think we're going to be quite as good as people think, and 2-way D are easier to acquire than elite forwards (see Ekholm last year).

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I think 6'2" with the specific tools he has makes him unlikely to be dominant. He's 1 inch taller than your average NHL defenseman, he's not really physical, and his offensive tools don't look great. How do you want him to dominate?

By all accounts his defensive game is all aces. His offsensive game isn’t Coffey but it’s not bad either. The fundamentals appear to be there and he seems a pretty safe pick.

Put him with Hutson and I think we’re going good.

Precisely... This draft was killer, and we went with a relatively milquetoast 2-way D rather than an elite hockey talent that was consensus top 5 (and top 2 for many). Waste of a good draft year, in my opinion. Especially when next year's top 15 is quite good for defensemen, I don't think we're going to be quite as good as people think, and 2-way D are easier to acquire than elite forwards (see Ekholm last year).

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I think 6'2" with the specific tools he has makes him unlikely to be dominant. He's 1 inch taller than your average NHL defenseman, he's not really physical, and his offensive tools don't look great. How do you want him to dominate?

As I just said, his defensive game appears to be rock solid. The offense can he improved. I think it will. His ceiling is pretty high.

Precisely... This draft was killer, and we went with a relatively milquetoast 2-way D rather than an elite hockey talent that was consensus top 5 (and top 2 for many). Waste of a good draft year, in my opinion. Especially when next year's top 15 is quite good for defensemen, I don't think we're going to be quite as good as people think, and 2-way D are easier to acquire than elite forwards (see Ekholm last year).

The draft I was referring to is 2922…

 

[Twisted Sinister]

As I just said, his defensive game appears to be rock solid. The offense can he improved. I think it will. His ceiling is pretty high.

Well, they can only hope. I don't see it, but they'll have some splainin' to do if the other guy becomes a 100-point player and Reinbacher is just safe rather than elite.

The draft I was referring to is 2922…

Ah, well... I honestly think we fudged up both drafts, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Again… our new GM just took over. Our blueline is stacked with prospects. He’ll now probably spend more energy on shoring up the forwards. But he’s added Slaf, Dach, Beck, Mesar and Newhook inside a year and a half. That’s not nothing.

Beck, Mesar lol, it’s pretty damn close to nothing. None of these players are impact plsyers imo. Dach might end up being pretty damn good, but he’s nothing special atm.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well, they can only hope. I don't see it, but they'll have some splainin' to do if the other guy becomes a 100-point player and Reinbacher is just safe rather than elite.

It’s so early on. I don’t see how you can discount that he’s got years to develop and improve. And if he is paired with Hudson for example those two would make a great team.

I agree that we have no obvious superstars in the system right now but there is a lot of potential with that group. I don’t see how people can’t be excited by it.

Btw, World Junior Summer Showcase: Team USA Top Performers Led By Hutson, Nazar - FloHockey

Ah, well... I honestly think we fudged up both drafts, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Guess so.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Beck, Mesar lol, it’s pretty damn close to nothing. None of these players are impact plsyers imo. Dach might end up being pretty damn good, but he’s nothing special atm.

None of these players are special atm. Wanna no why? Because they are teenagers. Beck may not be a first line center, but he projects to be a solid two way player. Remember how you wrote off Dach when we got him? Feel better about that trade now right?

Give it time. Some aren’t going to pan out. But some will. I don’t disagree that we have work to do up front and are missing that obvious big scorer. But we’re just getting started.

RB isn’t the flashy scorer we were hoping for but I think he will hopefully stabilize that blueline and pair with Hutson. It’s early days but that blueline group is packed with good prospects.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

None of these players are special atm. Wanna no why? Because they are teenagers. Beck may not be a first line center, but he projects to be a solid two way player. Remember how you wrote off Dach when we got him? Feel better about that trade now right?

Give it time. Some aren’t going to pan out. But some will. I don’t disagree that we have work to do up front and are missing that obvious big scorer. But we’re just getting started.

RB isn’t the flashy scorer we were hoping for but I think he will hopefully stabilize that blueline and pair with Hutson. It’s early days but that blueline group is packed with good prospects.

Beck may never play nhl games or be a key contributor to an nhl roster. I’m hopeful he is, but he’s a dime a dozen.

I’m still not sold on Dach being a 70 point player. I don’t see it, but would love to be wrong again.

 

[ryan callahan]

Reinbacher's offensive potential is getting greatly underrated around here.

This is NL's U20 top scorers :

What Reinbacher did as an 18 year old is special, and should not be understated. Simashev being used in the same sentence as him is ludicrous. Young players just do not ever have an important role on a NL team. The fact Reinbacher was able to be a top 2 D on a team that wasn't a joke is extremely impressive.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Beck may never play nhl games or be a key contributor to an nhl roster. I’m hopeful he is, but he’s a dime a dozen.

Solid players are always welcome. By all accounts he was a good pick for where we got him. Building through the draft and getting good two way players is a good thing.

Belittling it as 'dime a dozen' downplays the value of drafting strong depth players. Not every player is going to be a star. That doesn't mean that drafting good depth players along the way isn't going to signficantly help you build a winning team.

I’m still not sold on Dach being a 70 point player. I don’t see it, but would love to be wrong again.

Even if he's a 55 point second line center it's a solid move. And he can be moved to the wing if we find better options.

Again, give it some time. It's a marathon and we're in the beginning stages now.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Reinbacher's offensive potential is getting greatly underrated around here.

This is NL's U20 top scorers :

View attachment 733997

What Reinbacher did as an 18 year old is special, and should not be understated. Simashev being used in the same sentence as him is ludicrous. Young players just do not ever have an important role on a NL team. The fact Reinbacher was able to be a top 2 D on a team that wasn't a joke is extremely impressive.

Does that include forwards? That’s nuts.

I think the concern over his offensive game is warranted to a degree. But it’s all about expectations.

If you think this pick is a fail if he never gets 40 plus points regardless of anything else then yeah you’ll likely be disappointed.

I don’t even care that much about his offensive totals to a degree. He can potentially bring so much more.

I think people don’t see how good a passer he is. He’s not a puck wizard in that department but he’s very smart and efficient in his passing which will be great for our transition game.

We have tons of offensive potential on our back end with Hutson, Mailloux, Barron, Engstrom et al. Then you add Guhle and Xhekaj who produced pretty damn well for rookies on a bad team.

All our significant D prospects/young roster players have varying degrees of solid to tremendous offensive upside.

Reinbacher is no different but even if his offensive game doesn’t translate, he can help us win in so many other ways and there’s plenty of guys to pick up the slack.

Though his offensive tool kit seems limited you still have to wonder how much more he could do when not being so young and being on somewhat of a leash due to his age and deployment.

He played an important role on a solid team where he needed to be reliable. I don’t know how more freewheeling his offensive game could’ve been. Mind you he seemed to be able to go deep in the offensive zone quite a bit. It’s hard to say.

I think people can’t get over the lack of flash and forget/ignore the context of how exceptionally rare a draft year he had. He brings way more than just offense and yet he still put up fantastic numbers. He’d be highly touted even without those numbers.

 

[Kaiden Ghoul]

Never understood how some ppl could compare him to Josi and Seider, also saw Pesce and Larsson... how the heck can Josi fit with the 3 other and to a lesser entend, Seider with Pesce and Larsson

 

[BehindTheTimes]

I don’t see a lot of offense to his game, but I still like him as a prospect, if the offense comes he is a top pair d, if not, he’s a 2nd pair. The kid has tools, I think he will generate offense through his defense, breaking up plays and transitioning out of our sone quickly, but I don’t see him manning a PP or being on the ice for a 6 On 4 with goalie pulled trying to tie it, but I do see him on the ice for the 4 on 6 trying to preserve the win.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

I don’t see a lot of offense to his game, but I still like him as a prospect, if the offense comes he is a top pair d, if not, he’s a 2nd pair. The kid has tools, I think he will generate offense through his defense, breaking up plays and transitioning out of our sone quickly, but I don’t see him manning a PP or being on the ice for a 6 On 4 with goalie pulled trying to tie it, but I do see him on the ice for the 4 on 6 trying to preserve the win.

I agree with most of this.

I still think even if he tops out at 30ish pts he can be a top pairing guy. He’s too good at everything else.

You’re right he’s going to get a lot of secondary assists in transition I reckon.

I think he could possibly man a 2nd wave but we just have better options. Hutson, Mailloux, Barron specifically. He’s not Uber creative but I’ve seen him thread some nice cross ice passes.

I would love to see his offensive game take a crazy leap. It’s not impossible. If he can get that slapped going a bit better. He’s got a good wrister and seems to be good at getting his shots through.

I think there’s an outside chance he can become truly special. You just don’t see what he did that often. It really can’t be understated how well he did.

It’s all about his development curve now. Anything close to Guhle’s or Seider’s and this pick is massive.

 

[schwang26]

Beck, Mesar lol, it’s pretty damn close to nothing. None of these players are impact plsyers imo. Dach might end up being pretty damn good, but he’s nothing special atm.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but a 2nd round pick (Beck)that pretty much every hockey person is high on and says will have a long nhl career, and you're saying he's nothing?

 

[BehindTheTimes]

I agree with most of this.

I still think even if he tops out at 30ish pts he can be a top pairing guy. He’s too good at everything else.

You’re right he’s going to get a lot of secondary assists in transition I reckon.

I think he could possibly man a 2nd wave but we just have better options. Hutson, Mailloux, Barron specifically. He’s not Uber creative but I’ve seen him thread some nice cross ice passes.

I would love to see his offensive game take a crazy leap. It’s not impossible. If he can get that slapped going a bit better. He’s got a good wrister and seems to be good at getting his shots through.

I think there’s an outside chance he can become truly special. You just don’t see what he did that often. It really can’t be understated how well he did.

It’s all about his development curve now. Anything close to Guhle’s or Seider’s and this pick is massive.

I find he looks awkward shooting and with the puck on his stick in general. If it’s going to come there is a lot of work to do. Seems like the kid is coachable and a quick learner so it’s definitely possible.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but a 2nd round pick (Beck)that pretty much every hockey person is high on and says will have a long nhl career, and you're saying he's nothing?

I’m not saying he’s nothing, I’m saying he’s nothing special. Every org has a prospect of beck’s caliber. Let’s hope he develops into more than that. Right now, he’s not that guy.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I find he looks awkward shooting and with the puck on his stick in general. If it’s going to come there is a lot of work to do. Seems like the kid is coachable and a quick learner so it’s definitely possible.


I’m not saying he’s nothing, I’m saying he’s nothing special. Every org has a prospect of beck’s caliber. Let’s hope he develops into more than that. Right now, he’s not that guy.

It doesn’t matter if every org has a player of his caliber. They’re still good depth players to have. Getting guys like that in the 2nd round is great.

As to your comment above, Owen Beck’s already played an NHL game btw… Solid prospect. If we draft those kinds of players in the 2nd round in future drafts we’ll be in great shape.

Again, not every player has to be a superstar for it to be an effective pick. We are accumulating talent.

As for RB, at minimum he appears to be a solid defender with some offensive talent. Everyone wants a superstar and we should keep trying but adding solid players in the meantime is what we should be doing.

Some of these players may even turn out to be superstars themselves. It’s just not obvious yet. RB could very well be one of those guys… but even if he’s not, he’s a solid addition. We have to be patient and watch.

 

[schwang26]

I find he looks awkward shooting and with the puck on his stick in general. If it’s going to come there is a lot of work to do. Seems like the kid is coachable and a quick learner so it’s definitely possible.


I’m not saying he’s nothing, I’m saying he’s nothing special. Every org has a prospect of beck’s caliber. Let’s hope he develops into more than that. Right now, he’s not that guy.

He's a second round pick. Most don't even make it. The fact that many are high on him because he plays a complete game, tells me that he probably will be special.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

He's a second round pick. Most don't even make it. The fact that many are high on him because he plays a complete game, tells me that he probably will be special.

Where he was picked has nothing to do with his quality as a prospect. I didn’t complain about picking him, I said he’s a dime a dozen player and he is.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Beck, Mesar lol, it’s pretty damn close to nothing. None of these players are impact plsyers imo. Dach might end up being pretty damn good, but he’s nothing special atm.

I find he looks awkward shooting and with the puck on his stick in general. If it’s going to come there is a lot of work to do. Seems like the kid is coachable and a quick learner so it’s definitely possible.


I’m not saying he’s nothing, I’m saying he’s nothing special. Every org has a prospect of beck’s caliber. Let’s hope he develops into more than that. Right now, he’s not that guy.

IMO Beck will be an elite 3rd line centre at worst. He will a Doug Jarvis level player.

 

[JT3]

Reinbachers offense gets discounted because he doesn't play a run and gun free wheeling style. He can't do that because he's an 18 year old in a structured men's league, instead he's probably his teams best all around defenseman and just consistently makes the smart play.

I think you drop Reinbacher into the CHL this year and he would have more room to attack offensively without worrying about getting burned for it. Playing against 16-20 year old kids is a lot more forgiving than professional men (many of whom are former NHL'ers). In this scenario I don't think it's far fetched to say Reinbacher would be thought of a hell of a lot differently if he had the freedom to rush the puck and take chances as say a Mailloux can. While actually being good at defense.

Let's wait and see how this next season goes. I think he gets a shot at PP1 and takes another step.

 

[Hins77]

Reinbachers offense gets discounted because he doesn't play a run and gun free wheeling style. He can't do that because he's an 18 year old in a structured men's league, instead he's probably his teams best all around defenseman and just consistently makes the smart play.

I think you drop Reinbacher into the CHL this year and he would have more room to attack offensively without worrying about getting burned for it. Playing against 16-20 year old kids is a lot more forgiving than professional men (many of whom are former NHL'ers). In this scenario I don't think it's far fetched to say Reinbacher would be thought of a hell of a lot differently if he had the freedom to rush the puck and take chances as say a Mailloux can. While actually being good at defense.

Let's wait and see how this next season goes. I think he gets a shot at PP1 and takes another step.

Reinbacher played top pairing minutes in a pro league in swiss at his rookie year. Imagine if he have played in the OHL.
Mason Mactavish and Othman were playing on second swiss league. I mean, Reinbacher has no buisness in the OHL. He would have destroy the league a la Evan Bouchard.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Where he was picked has nothing to do with his quality as a prospect. I didn’t complain about picking him, I said he’s a dime a dozen player and he is.

First you say he added nothing up front. I pointed out that he's added about a half dozen quality prospects/players. Then it becomes there's "nothing special"...

Sorry but no.

In a year and a half, he's added Slaf (who you've completely written off already), Dach who's looking like he's probably a top six player, Newhook, Mesar and Beck. That is not nothing. It's pretty good given that he's only been in the chair a year and a half.

Secondly, "dime a dozen" is bs. Solid picks taken in the second round (and yes it matters where he was drafted) are the way you build solid clubs. Nobody is suggesting he's a superstar but to sit there and complain that he's done 'nothing' and then start disqualifying solid picks like this is silly. It doesn't matter if other clubs have that kind of player. WE DON'T. If he pans out, it fills a key gap.

If you want to say there's no obvious superstar here (including RB) then I say... sure, you're right. But don't dismiss the good work he's done since taking over the chair. We'll have to see if there is a superstar coming up in this group because none are obvious at this point. That IS disappointing for all of us given that we had two top five picks. But that's the luck of the draft sometimes. I'm sure he'd have taken Bedard first overall in 2022 but he wasn't available...

 

[Favster]

I don’t see a lot of offense to his game, but I still like him as a prospect, if the offense comes he is a top pair d, if not, he’s a 2nd pair. The kid has tools, I think he will generate offense through his defense, breaking up plays and transitioning out of our sone quickly, but I don’t see him manning a PP or being on the ice for a 6 On 4 with goalie pulled trying to tie it, but I do see him on the ice for the 4 on 6 trying to preserve the win.

If he can improve his puck skills in a similar way that Guhle did since he's been drafted he definitely can be an offensive producing Dman. He won't generate it in a flashy way, but he can already navigate the blue line effectively and has a good enough shot and good passing. The only thing that could potentially hold him back in the N is average puck skills which can definitely be improved.