David Reinbacher
19y, EHC Kloten, NL, Switzerland
Reinbacher was a late scratch for Friday’s game in the National League as he was under the weather. The Montreal first-round pick was back for Saturday’s game and had an assist:
There are some good things here: he activates from his position on the blue line and drives the play back into the zone, he recognizes the opportunity, and must have been communicating with his teammate who covers the blue line after handing the puck over. Reinbacher attacks with force and keeps his head up to check opponents and teammates alike to set up the pass. The negative is that he doesn’t get the pass to Simic on target, even with the time he has. It hits Simic’s skate and it is the forward’s individual skill that makes the goal happen.
However, I think it’s overall a good play, and a play I want Reinbacher to activate in the offensive zone, He is good defensively and seeing him explore the offensive side of his game can only be positive.
Vinzenz Rohrer
19y, ZSC Lions, NL, Switzerland
Reports from Zürich are that Rohrer had another strong and good game on Saturday night. He recorded his third assist and eighth point in 24 games, all while playing limited minutes as his season average is 13 minutes a game.
Rohrer is quietly putting together a very strong year in a very good league, on a team with one of the biggest budgets in Europe and under a coach with NHL experience. There is no rush to bring Rohrer back over to the AHL as Montreal holds his rights for another couple of years.
Adam Engström
20y, Rögle BK, SHL, Sweden
Engström had a former Canadien as his partner in all three games this week as Brandon Davidson and Engström played together. It also meant that the prospect had to play on his off-side. Initially it caused some problems, but mostly Engström was holding his position and got to be on a defensive-first pairing; the Kapla-Grégoire pairing is, as the commentator said, “good from the red line forward.”
Rögle and Engström were caught out on the long change and Frölunda got a counter attack right after the power play, he couldn’t quite get in front of Stenberg to stop him from scoring.
Rögle managed to get the game into overtime, where Engström assisted on the winner:
Much like I expressed that I like to see Reinbacher’s offensive game, I am happy to see Engström’s development on the defensive side of the puck. It would help if he managed to score on some of the chances that he is getting five-on-five, but from a developmental standpoint improving on his defence will be extremely valuable for when he crosses the Atlantic.
Filip Eriksson
18y, Växjö Lakers, SHL, Sweden
Eriksson plays in small bursts, usually somewhere around 10 minutes a game. Still he gets those minutes on the second-best team in Sweden. He is giving it his best to get noticed in order to get on the World Junior Championship squad, and that means that an assist is important even if it’s Victor Stjernborg’s goal that people will remember.
Oliver Kapanen
20y, KalPa, Liiga, Finland
Still out of the lineup due to an injury, most likely until Januarys as there will be an international break before Christmas, and KalPa doesn’t have any games in the days between Christmas and New Year’s.
Petteri Nurmi
21y, HPK, Liiga, Finland
One goal and one assist from Nurmi in Saturday’s game against Ilves, both on the power play.
The defenceman has started to get comfortable on the ice once more and plays a stable two-way game. If this continues he will force a decision from the Canadiens management come spring.
Bogdan Konyushkov
20y, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, KHL, Russia
Konyushkov had one secondary assist in three games this week, an assist that was more keeping the puck in the offensive zone.
He plays a lot of minutes, and his strength is definitely on the offensive side of the game. He gets boxed out and outmanoeuvred both in front of the net and along the boards.
I have mentioned the skating before, and there is something with how he generates speed, and secondly his balance, that is off. What it comes down to is that his stride isn’t technically sound, which is weird to say about a Russian player. Artturi Lehkonen spent a lot of extra time working on a similar problem with a skating coach in Frölunda after every practice for over a year to fix his stride and power transfer. It seems to me that Konyushkov would benefit a lot from the same kind of practice in order to prepare him for a potential NHL career.
Yevgeni Volokhin
18y, Mamonty Yugry, MHL, Russia
Volokhin played for The Eastern All-Stars this week. He faced 14 shots and had two goals against as Team West won the game 5-3. Volokhin’s compatriot Zavragin didn’t get to play with the Eastern team as he was playing with Yugra’s team in the VHL.
On top of that he also played in the 2-1 shootout loss against Snezhnye Barsy (The Snowleopards).
Alexander Gordin
22y, Ryazan-VDV, VHL, Russia
One assist for Gordin this week.
Dmitri Kostenko
21y, VHL, Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
The sharp-eyed readers spotted right away that Khimik has been stricken from Kostenko’s information and been replaced with Yugra. He started the stint with the Mammoths with a two-goal game (the same game Zavragin played in).
