Looks like the David Reinbacher thread is going to have to go the way of the Juraj Slafkovsky thread - which is a toxic cesspool you don't go into because it's full of crying, hot takes and general stupidity.
He had a nervous first period as did pretty much the entire roster who didn't have extensive NHL experience.
The penalty kill goal was a miscommunication where he thought Struble had Tavares and he was shaded out to the one-timer threat on the dot. That's Xs and Os that gets ironed out in a season, nothing more than that.
After that, he showed exactly what he was drafted to do. Shut down the rush with his stick and skating. Defend the in-zone cycle with his skating and size. Get the puck, evade pressure and make quick, solid exits out of the zone and then support the attack with clever activations.
We just played NJ with Simon Nemec, a 2nd overall pick, and he was worse, with more experience, than Reinbacher was in this game. The Devils could have taken small scorer Logan Cooley instead.
Defenseman take longer to develop, so trying to make mountains of mole hills is just wanting to make yourself mad and miserable. Let the man develop, there's absolutely no need for him to be a first pairing defenseman TODAY.
The small scorers are almost ALWAYS ahead of the big defenseman. You guys have watched hockey long enough, you post about it on a message board, you must know by now that it's common knowledge that defense and goaltending have the longest run way of development to their upside.
Yes, some of the special talents like a Drew Doughty come in and do it earlier. No one has ever billed Reinbacher as a Drew Doughty. If that's what you thought they were getting, that's on you, and if things are failing to meet expectations you set by yourself, because of some weird "an X overall pick must be X" lie you tell yourself, that's on you, not on management and certainly not on the player.
Recalibrate. Chill out. He's going to be a very valuable piece to the rebuild and he is not going to be flashy about it.
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