No European Prospect Report this week as the leagues are on international breaks. Therefore we get to catch up on David Reinbacher’s season with NL Ice Data’s Thibaud Chatel.
Chatel starts by saying that it is a difficult season to grade, as Reinbacher is a completely different player from last season.
“He has grown so much physically over the summer, he is not the same person as before. He has a lot of catch up to do in regards to his skating, responsiveness, explosively reading plays, etc. Due to his new size, weight and I guess his stick is longer than before too. On top of that he was injured early on, he was in Montreal over the summer.”
Kloten’s coach, former Canadien, Gerry Fleming had the team play a man to man scheme, something that is a nightmare on the big ice in Europe. Reinbacher (and many others in the Kloten defence) got completely lost in that system. Fleming has since been fired, and Kloten has gone back to a zone defence, where Reinbacher seems more comfortable.
On top of this Reinbacher was injured. Chatel thinks he still hasn’t recovered fully, but the good thing is that the National League’s December schedule has big holes in it due to the International break (former Isveztia tournament), the Christmas break, and then a new break for Spengler Cup. All three help when you want to recover from an injury, or build up for the end of the season.
After returning from his injury it seems that the Steve Kellenberger train has left the station. Nathan Beaulieu seems to be his new partner in order to create a top pair that can dominate, rather than being a supportive act to cover defensively for Kellenberger.
However, how does this make Reinbacher’s season look compared to last year? NL Ice Data provided this table for our podcast, and it is clear that Reinbacher has had a better season than last year (even with fewer games). It is also impressive in regards to the National League’s standing in Europe where they can attract many of the top players from each country now that KHL is out of the picture for many players.
Credit: NL Ice Data
What stands out is that his shot attempts against are down, along with zone entries leading to a shot, but everything else is either at the same level or better. When asked about ‘High Danger Passes’, Chatel points out that Reinbacher’s passes come from different areas this time as he is working on pinching and activating from the blue line. It is something that he needs to do in the NHL and he has used this season in NL to practice it, however Reinbacher is not yet fully comfortable placing the passes from the new areas.
At the end of the podcast the discussion turns to Austria’s Brendan Gallagher clone Vinzenz Rohrer, who has had a very good season out of the spotlight that fellow Austrian Reinbacher has.
While there is no comparison data, Rohrer’s numbers are good for a player that is playing his first year of professional hockey, especially in a club like Zürich.
Credit: NL Ice Data
Mr. Chatel mentions at the end of the podcast that he thinks Reinbacher will be in AHL next year, but that his development is actually progressing very well.
You can listen to the full podcast below; and you can follow Thibaud Chatel on X by clicking on this link.
