I don't know if you read Basu TheAthletic piece on Reinbacher when he went see him a few weeks ago, but he hints that Reinbacher was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden attention he got from being drafted by the habs, and tried to change his game and get too fancy at the beginning of the season to prove his worth. His coach and the habs had to tell him to relax and to focus on the kind of game he was playing last year - the kind of game they drafted him for - instead of trying to be someone else.
I also agree with the weight gain, his answer on it at the rookie camp was telling, he just ate a lot all summer. Prospects who gain a lot of weight and struggle because of it is a classic tale (KK and Slaf arguably faced the same issue), I don't know why it keeps happening. I don't know much about physical development and all that stuff, but I wonder if there's basically no other way to do it. They tell these kids to focus on building their muscular mass, and they let them adapt to it through their playing time.
I heard it was the Habs who suggested he put the weight on though I don't remember where I read that.
It's my opinion, but it's not about being perfect every game or always good. They are all inconsistent in a way at that age. We are looking for more flashes than their draft year and more the next year.
Consistency comes with maturity, with experience. The same thing when we are scouting a player or trying to see what will he do. What is he showing? What are the flashes he shows? Does it come often or not? Then why?
The lack of offence in the ozone is a bit bothering me for Reinbacher, but everything else is really good. He is a breakout monster, he finds the right blade and the right play very often. He keeps it if he has to, very impressive for that age. He has a good stick, defend very well, activates himself very early in the dzone, boxout really well and always scans the ice to see where the danger is, ready to help his partner.
IMO, we have a good hockey player. It's only the lack of offence that he brings in the ozone that bothers me a bit, but he is a surefire NHLer who's gonna play a lot of minutes one day.
No one can be perfect every game so to expect that would be wrong. Most prospects the skill isn't the problem, they can show flashes but they can't figure out is how to do it consistently. Some prospects do and some don't.
Take a look at Lane Hutson, from the Team USA summer camp tournament to the NCAA to the WJC's, the only time he has gone more then 1 game without a point the entire time was a back to back where one of the games was an exhibition vs his younger brother. That's consistency.
On the other hand look at guys like Kapanen who have gone 66% of the season without picking up a point or Alexander Gordin who is 2nd OA in points in the VHL for U-23 skaters yet out of the 50 games he's played in 27 of them he's been held pointless.
But i've been doing this a long, long time, since the late '90's I've been watching Hab prospects play all over the world so I know a lot of the leagues well, I know what to look for unless it's goalies since I never played that position and struggle to scout it.
I really don't know what to make of Reinbacher at this point, I don't know how anyone does as I don't even know what he is as he's struggled a lot at both ends of the ice but also shows flashes at both ends that make you think he's pretty good. The kind of mistakes he was having early on were really alarming but the good news is that since then he's really toned down the really dumb mistakes. Still I expected him to be much better defensively and the offense I just can't get a read on at all as he doesn't use his shot much and while his passing is his bread and butter of his offensive skills I can't get over how inconsistent the puck handling has been.
I think a lot of the inconsistency, which is normal to a developing player in a men’s league, is due to three coaches this season. That’s a different scheme, message and expectation each time. He needs to be in Laval to shine
It's not an idea situation as the Habs would have had no way of knowing Fleming would get fired since he just got the job so now in 2 seasons he's had 4 HC's. So that certainly could be an issue, as his usage at least on the PP has been all over the place. He almost never plays the PK under 4 different HC's so to me that says something. On the PP he goes from 2nd PP to 1st to none at all back to 1st or 2nd or the bumper that only lasted 1 game.
Getting him to Laval will be very interesting, just hope the Habs don't rush him.
