Now that the playout series between EHC Kloten and Ajoie is no longer necessary, top prospect David Reinbacher is free to join the Montreal Canadiens organization.
General manager Kent Hughes has announced the 19-year-old defenceman will be loaned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
Season With EHC Kloten
Reinbacher did not have a good season from a production standpoint. After scoring three goals and 19 assists in 46 games last year, he only managed to score one goal and 10 assists in 35 games this season.
To make matters worse, his lone goal came during an empty-net situation.
But as we all know, there’s always more to prospect analysis than simply taking a cursory look at a player’s stats page.
Reinbacher started the season on the wrong foot, there’s no doubt about it. He added a lot of mass to his frame once the Montreal Canadiens drafted him, which limited his mobility. A knee injury led to further mobility issues, as Reinbacher struggled to adapt to the speed of play upon his return to action.
Once he did get back into the lineup, he had to deal with playing on one of the worst teams in the league. EHC Kloten was a mess from start to finish in 2023-24. They went through three coaches, though given the team only managed to bank 52 points in 52 games, the second-worst result in the National League, it’s fair to say it wasn’t a coaching problem holding the team back.
They simply did not have the talent in their lineup to match other National League teams.
Reinbacher’s play down the stretch improved, though not to the point that you could argue his season with Kloten led to any sort of significant progress in his development. On that note, he did have much better numbers when it came to zone exits, and he activated more often in the offensive zone.
I’d like to invite anyone interested in reading a deep dive into Reinbacher’s season to check out Thibaud Chatel’s analysis.
Laval Rocket Debut
Reinbacher hasn’t played since his NL season ended on March 5. The Laval Rocket’s next game is on Friday when they’re scheduled to face the Belleville Senators.
That will give Reinbacher enough time to familiarize himself with the Rocket playbook.
There’s no rush to get him into the lineup, but once he does start to play there will be a certain level of pressure associated with playing so close to Montreal. While we’re quick to recognize Kloten was not the ideal team for him, Laval provides Reinbacher with a much better developmental situation, and consequently, the expectations will go up slightly.
Jean-Francois Houle is unlikely to remove Logan Mailloux from his top pairing, which means we can expect Reinbacher to start on the second or third pairing. As for potential partners, we’re looking at one of Mattias Norlinder, William Trudeau, or Tobie Paquette-Bisson to play on Reinbacher’s left.
Projected Laval Rocket Defence Upon Reinbacher’s Arrival
Trudeau – Mailloux
Bisson – Reinbacher
Norlinder – Barron
More must-reads: