David Reinbacher Leaves Rocket Game After Big Hit

It’s unclear whether Reinbacher suffered a concussion or if he injured his collarbone as a result of the blow, but it’s looking like he hurt himself in one of those areas. If it is a collarbone injury, there is a chance that he may be out long-term, which would come at a bad time for the 21-year-old former 5th overall pick, as he’s continuously struggled to stay healthy. Soon enough if this continues, the Habs may need to consider moving on from Reinbacher if he can’t seem to stay healthy.

The fact that Reinbacher is such a high pick allows him to still have good value, but the Canadiens shouldn’t wait much longer if he gets injured again before considering whether or not he has a future in the organization. At the end of the day, the Habs can’t wait until his value continues to drop due to all the injuries that he has suffered in his young career.

While we can’t say that he’s injury-prone when it comes to his injury on Saturday, as it could have happened to anyone, the luck he has when it comes to staying healthy has gotten a little too concerning ever since the Canadiens drafted him.

For now, we will need to wait on the news regarding Reinbacher to know just how bad the upper-body injury really is. If it turns out that he’s only out day-to-day or he only exited the game for precautionary reasons, the Habs and Rocket will have certainly dodged a huge bullet, as yet again it looks like Reinbacher may be out for a while.

Before his injury, Reinbacher had finally ended a 22-game goalless drought with a fluky shorthanded goal where the puck came along the boards to him as the Wranglers goaltender lost his blade and was out of position. As a result, Reinbacher was able to score by just getting the puck towards the net along the wall. It may not have been the prettiest goal, but it would have easily given Reinbacher some confidence in his game going forward. On top of snapping his goalless drought, Reinbacher got just his 2nd point in his last 12 games, which shows how much of a challenge it has been since the beginning of December for the young rearguard.

It’s really a shame that Reinbacher had to get hurt in a game where his offence could have bounced back. He really can’t catch a break, and if he is out long-term with something like a broken collarbone, the Habs really should evaluate his worth to the team going forward. They can’t allow his injuries to deteriorate his value, similar to what happened with former 5th overall pick Olli Juolevi and the Vancouver Canucks a while back. It may not be Reinbacher’s fault, but it seems like this pick isn’t going to work out if this is just another long-term injury.

On a positive note, the Rocket would go on to win 5-3 against the Wranglers, thanks to 2 early 3rd period goals by Adam Engstrom and Jared Davidson.

Do you think that if Reinbacher is injured long-term again, this could affect his future with the Canadiens organization?