Many fans clamoring for Matvei Michkov were surprised when Kent Hughes chose David Reinbacher in 2023. Hughes capitalized on the team’s needs by filling an important position on the right side of the defense.
Reinbacher thus became the first defenseman to be selected in his draft year. Not bad, but would the same thing happen this year?
According to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, the answer would be no. At least, that’s what he explained in a Q&A post on Reddit.
AMA (Ask Me Anything) Announcement 
We’re very pleased to announce an AMA with @scottcwheeler, a staff writer at @TheAthletic who covers the NHL draft & prospects.
Join us today at 3:00pm ET to ask your questions 
https://t.co/vXET5cLntX
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) May 24, 2024
In fact, Wheeler wouldn’t see Reinbacher as the best defenseman in this draft. He wouldn’t even see him among this year’s top five defensemen!
Wheeler puts defensemen Artyom Levshunov, Zeev Buium, Zayne Parekh, Sam Dickinson and Anton Silayev ahead of Reinbacher. It’s indeed a list full of excellent players, but to say that Reinbacher doesn’t deserve his place in this group is a bit of an exaggeration.
Reinbacher hasn’t looked good this season due to his low points tally (11 in 31 games) with HC Kloten in Switzerland. What we mustn’t forget is that Reinbacher is renowned for his imposing physique, defensive play and rebounding.
Seeing Reinbacher’s statistics in Switzerland, many fans began to cry flop.
As soon as he arrived in Laval, he proved to everyone that he was no flop. Seeing Reinbacher play a full game in front of them convinced Laval and Canadiens fans alike.
The Austrian defenseman also managed to impress with a fine goal, but you have to understand that offense will be secondary to his game. He can’t compete with the work of Zayne Parekh as an example.
Here’s a clip of Parekh’s third point of the game in his first Memorial Cup game.
Zayne Parekh is on FIRE! 
Already 3 points in the game for the 17-year-old defenseman #CoupeMemorial@CHLHockey pic.twitter.com/8iWM8dujj5
– RDS (@RDSca) May 25, 2024
To say that Reinbacher wouldn’t rank among the top-5 defensemen in this draft is quite an opinion, but we’ll only know the answer when each player reaches the NHL, and in the case of defensemen, we often have to wait a little longer.
In bursts
– Canadiens prospect scores at Memorial Cup.
Owen Beck gets lucky and scores the Spirit’s 2nd goal! #MemorialCup@CHLHockey pic.twitter.com/7M4O4S3qJA
– RDS (@RDSca) May 25, 2024
– There should be change in Toronto.
“I can’t see a scenario where the Core Four comes back to this team. I’d say it’s close to a 0% chance all of those guys are back.”@reporterchris shared his opinion on the future of the Core Four with #LeafsForever and the possibility of a change in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/MP3eZx0ben
– OverDrive (@OverDrive1050) May 11, 2024
– Minnesota gets closer to the goal.
Minnesota is now just one win away from the first Walter Cup in LPHF history! 
pic.twitter.com/xiB4kJmntd
– RDS (@RDSca) May 25, 2024
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