Prospect Info: David Reinbacher

[Mudz]

That's a very good description of Reinbacher's game. First pass and processing are Reinbacher's biggest strengths. It allows him to turn defense into offense as fast as anybody in the game of hockey. I don't know if he's ever gonna be elite on the PP or PK but he's gonna be an absolute monster at even strength and create a ton of offense.

I don't see why he wouldn't be a PK beast. That's the easiest for guys like him. He was on PK1 right away in Laval.

And I don't really care for the PP, that's Hutson's job.

 

[Scintillating10]

So tired of the not-picking-Michkov hangover by some Habs fan on this board. Here's are our projected wingers next year on the top two lines:
Slaf
Caufield
Demidov
Laine

You want Michkov over any of these guys? A guy that does not seem to be particularly pleasant to start with, and who is 5'9" and not interested in playing defense?

We need a Reinbacher-type player, we don't need Michkov.

Picked Reinbacher because of need and size. Likely the 3 year contract as Gorton seems to want to win ASAP . Reinbacher be here this season at some point. I imagine Both have outstanding careers. Habs been accused too small can't carry many more in playoffs. While right D valuable position.

 

[Hinterland]

I don't see why he wouldn't be a PK beast. That's the easiest for guys like him. He was on PK1 right away in Laval.

And I don't really care for the PP, that's Hutson's job.

I wouldn't read too much into that. Laval is the Habs farm. Coaches would probably risk their job if they refuse to give Habs top prospects special team ice time. Also, AHL isn't quite the same as NHL.

In Switzerland there have been many games where Reinbacher led the team in ice team despite playing no or very little special teams ice time. Reinbacher had four head coaches in Swiss pro hockey but none of them really relied on him for PK or PP despite leaning on him heavily at even strength.

Now in NA teams are usually dressing 6 defensemen (vs 8 in Europe) so obviously Reinbacher is gonna have to help out on PP and/or PK as well and I'm sure he's gonna be perfectly fine doing that. I'm just not sure he's ever gonna be elite in those situations. It's possible but I think he's gonna be a guy you primarily want on the ice at even strength for as much as possible.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I wouldn't read too much into that. Laval is the Habs farm. Coaches would probably risk their job if they refuse to give Habs top prospects special team ice time. Also, AHL isn't quite the same as NHL.

In Switzerland there have been many games where Reinbacher led the team in ice team despite playing no or very little special teams ice time. Reinbacher had four head coaches in Swiss pro hockey but none of them really relied on him for PK or PP despite leaning on him heavily at even strength.

Now in NA teams are usually dressing 6 defensemen (vs 8 in Europe) so obviously Reinbacher is gonna have to help out on PP and/or PK as well and I'm sure he's gonna be perfectly fine doing that. I'm just not sure he's ever gonna be elite in those situations. It's possible but I think he's gonna be a guy you primarily want on the ice at even strength for as much as possible.

He was immediately the best PKer on Laval when he joined. He will get plenty of PK minutes.

 

[Rapala]

I don't see why he wouldn't be a PK beast. That's the easiest for guys like him. He was on PK1 right away in Laval.

And I don't really care for the PP, that's Hutson's job.

Good point.
The first step a person has to take to start loving Reinbacher is to understand what his job is not what they want his job to be.
There has been a distinct lack of appreciation for this type of player for decades now.

 

[7roy]

In Switzerland there have been many games where Reinbacher led the team in ice team despite playing no or very little special teams ice time. Reinbacher had four head coaches in Swiss pro hockey but none of them really relied on him for PK or PP despite leaning on him heavily at even strength.

That just means Reinbacher was more valuable to them at 5v5, not that Reinbacher wasn't good on the PK. Especially with 8 dmen, might as well give those PK minutes to a PK specialist than overuse Reinbacher.

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

That's a very good description of Reinbacher's game. First pass and processing are Reinbacher's biggest strengths. It allows him to turn defense into offense as fast as anybody in the game of hockey. I don't know if he's ever gonna be elite on the PP or PK but he's gonna be an absolute monster at even strength and create a ton of offense.

The other aspect of his game is his skating. He’s smothering and will eliminate space quick

 

[Rapala]

That just means Reinbacher was more valuable to them at 5v5, not that Reinbacher wasn't good on the PK. Especially with 8 dmen, might as well give those PK minutes to a PK specialist than overuse Reinbacher.

Wrong answer IMO.
When Reinbacher graduates they will give him all the ice time and role playing time they possibly can.
We only have to look at the PK numbers to understand it has to get better and we expect him to be part of the solution.

This season will be geared towards that goal and is why he needs all the minutes he can get in Laval.
The work load is probably going to be the biggest adjustment for this player particularly games played.

 

[JianYang]

I appreciated when Gainey did that.
Patrice was at best a second pairing Dman often forced to play top pairing minutes, something he wasn't designed for. He played over a 1000 games.
Man the fans were hard on him

Brisebois was once upon a time the highest paid dman in Habs history at 4 million per year. That was the start of the expectation versus reality gap.

Breezer could move the puck well enough, but he just made too many bone head plays. I was happy for him in the end though when he came back to montreal on a redemption tour. I thought he was effective on his 2nd tour, and he was clearly emotional when the fans gave him a hearty ovation after returning.