When David Reinbacher was drafted at number five in the 2023 NHL Draft, a whole new life began for the young Austrian, a life in the spotlight. Not only in his native Austria, but also in Switzerland where he played. He became the de facto star in Kloten, a small team in the big pond of the National League (Switzerland’s top division). With that, other obligations piled up, such as interviews, commercials, and long-distance meetings with the Montreal Canadiens coaching and development teams. This all added up to impact his game.
Kloten hired former Montreal Canadien Gerry Fleming as head coach, bringing him in from Löwen Frankfurt, a team in the middle of the German top league, DEL. Fleming went from a traditional zone defence to a man-to-man scheme, something that didn’t improve the confidence among the players and created a problem for the whole defence corps. With Kloten really struggling and getting drawn into the relegation battle, Fleming was relieved of his coaching duties in the middle of November. It took Kloten a full month before his replacement was in place.
The situation of being drafted so high and his team doing poorly led to Reinbacher trying to do a bit too much at times, going into hero mode. He confided to his former manager at his apprenticeship, Thomas Rossi (who is also the guest on the podcast), that playing defence well was not enough; he needed to score points and do well in power-play situations. Offence had to be added to his game.

He dealt with a couple of injuries last season. While the most was made of his knee injury, it was the fact that he played the rest of the season with a wrist ailment that made him struggle.
The pressure of being the star, playing injured, and trying to expand his repertoire, all while facing one of the toughest situations a team and a player can have — the league’s relegation zone — affected Reinbacher off the ice, too. Kloten avoided relegation on the technicality that none of the teams in the Swiss League final wanted the promotion (as I am not sure Kloten would have beaten Ajoie in the relegation series).
Reinbacher went to Laval upon the completion of the schedule in Switzerland, playing 11 games and contributing five points in the AHL. He had surgery on his wrist after his season ended.
Voting

Reinbacher stays in the same spot as last year’s entry, joining the previous two members of the countdown in doing so. With the exit of Nick Suzuki and addition of Ivan Demidov. it does make sense, especially considering the year he has had. While one of the Europeans on the panel had Reinbacher highest at four, none of the panellists had him lower than 10.
The community, and the rest of the panellists, had him slotted from fifth to seventh. He ended up less than a tenth of a point behind the player ahead of him.

The community as a whole has shown its well-founded faith that Reinbacher is one of the pillars for a successful Canadiens future. His chart is a flipped version of the one we saw for Alex Newhook yesterday, with few members ranking him lower than seventh place.
Top 25 Under 25 History
History of #7
Year | #7 |
---|---|
2023 | David Reinbacher |
2022 | Joshua Roy |
2021 | Cayden Primeau |
2020 | Victor Mete |
2019 | Cole Caufield |
2018 | Ryan Poehling |
2017 | Scherbak/Juulsen (T-7) |
2016 | Daniel Carr |
2015 | Zack Kassian |
2014 | Jacob de la Rose |
2013 | Jarred Tinordi |
2012 | Brendan Gallagher |
2011 | Danny Kristo |
2010 | Max Pacioretty |
Strengths
One of the things that has stood out in Reinbacher’s game the last two years has been his puck retrievals. He evades the offensive actions of the other team in order to facilitate a clean and controlled zone breakout and start the attack. One thing that really benefits his retrievals is the fact that he sees the ice very well. He seems to have a radar between his ears and knows where his opponents and teammates are at all times.
I wouldn’t say that he defers to his partner, but he seems adaptable and can work with anyone you place him with within a few shifts. He can drive the offence in a way that uses his speed and control to facilitate zone entries and set up players rather than actually running an offence from the blue line.
With this in mind, he shoots the puck well, and he hits the target (in my best Peter Brand voice). This sets up deflections, tip-ins, and rebounds for forwards to jump on.
After last season, one would have to say his mental toughness is strong. It wasn’t easy to acclimatize himself to his new exposure and new role, topping that off with the extreme pressure of a relegation battle when everyone looked to him to solve it. It speaks of character, of responsibility. To be able to handle it as well as Reinbacher did speaks of a sound mind.
Weaknesses
It is unrealistic to expect him to become a player like Cale Makar, Adam Fox, or even Rasmus Dahlin. It is in his own end that Reinbacher’s true strength lies. He mentioned that he needs to improve his offence, and that is maybe true, but it is not to improve to an Erik Karlsson kind of offence. Playing on a better team, the offence should come more naturally from his transition skills.
Projection
Development can not always be linear and this is something that Reinbacher learned the hard way last year with a team that didn’t perform, injuries, and pressure. Long term, Reinbacher will have benefited from the experience. As the hurdles were overcome, it will be something he can use in similar situations down the line. The fact that he was the leader of a bad team and facing the opponent’s best lines (more often than not, Europe’s highest-paid lines) at 19 is very impressive.
The National League is one of the best leagues in Europe and a step directly to the NHL should not be counted out, but with the defensive situation that Montreal has, he could end up in the AHL next season due to his waivers exemption. This should not be considered a failure on his part but rather a way of keeping him out of the limelight and letting him develop at a steady rate, giving him the best chance to succeed.
Montreal will rely on Reinbacher for a long time. He will be a cornerstone who can allow other players to shine, one of his greatest assets. Again, don’t expect him to become a player who scores tons of points; much like his game, points will come at a steady pace. Generally, he has accumulated primary points rather than secondary ones, something that may well continue as his playmaking ability is strong. He can be used on the power play, but with the four-forward setup that seems to be commonplace among NHL teams now, I would expect other defencemen to fill that role.
He holds the keys that can unlock Lane Hutson, which still remains the greatest hope for his projection. But of all the attributes that Reinbacher has, his head is probably the strongest one, and that will give him a long NHL career.
Thomas Rossi is not only a fan of EHC Kloten but also David Reinbacher’s mentor at his apprenticeship at INSTEQ.
1:15 – Becomming a Kloten supporter?
2:30 – Kloten’s last season, take us through it.
7:00 – Was David Reinbacher ready for the spotlight, and the new role on the team?
10:00 – Going into hero mode, the ‘need’ for offence.
12:10 – Commercial Break
12:15 – Injury problems.
14:00 – David Rienbacher the person.
15:30 – The pressure of playing at the bottom of the table, and in a potential relegation battle.
18:00 – What did David Reinbacher learn from this experience?
21:00 – NHL / AHL next year?
23:15 – Looking at Vinzenz Rohrer’s past and upcoming season.