David Reinbacher selection: Kent Hughes disappointed by fan reaction

Ever since David Reinbacher was selected fifth overall in the latest draft, fan reaction has been the talk of the town. After all, the youngster was booed off the field by Montreal fans when he was selected. And on social media, the youngster is far from unanimous.

I talked about this yesterday, about how the passion of the fans can scare off players who want to move to Montreal.

Today was the opening of the free-agent market, and Kent Hughes, who has not been very active (not surprisingly), spoke to the media at around 2pm to talk about his plans. And, of course, a word about his first-round selection in the draft a few days ago.

First of all, you have to understand that the organization really likes the player. That’s one of the reasons they turned down a deal to bring Yaroslav Askarov to town. Despite the negative messages from fans about the defenseman, Hughes is very happy with his move.

But the team’s general manager also spoke about the fans’ reaction, and he’s a little disappointed.

The Austrian has received several hate messages on social media and his boss thinks it’s a shame, obviously. At least Hughes spoke with his protégé and gave the example of Kaiden Guhle. When he was selected by Marc Bergevin in 2020, fans were not happy with his selection, but in hindsight, we can say that MB succeeded.

Today, all fans love Guhle.

This was also the case last year at the draft. When the deal to bring Kirby Dach to town was announced, the first part of the announcement was not well received by fans. The thousands of them present at the Bell Centre booed their GM.

At his press briefing, the GM mentioned that he and his group are capable of taking it, and if the fans are looking for a punching bag, he wants it to be management, not the player. And I couldn’t agree more. After all, the 18-year-old right-handed defenseman never asked to be drafted before Matvei Michkov. Speaking of the Russian, I wonder if fans would have had the same reaction if Michkov hadn’t been available…

Kent Hughes is well aware of the benefits of passion in Montreal. But as I’ve already mentioned, this passion isn’t all positive, and this week we’ve seen a lot of that negative. Let’s hope Reinbacher silences his detractors. We can only encourage him, now that he’s a member of the team.

In brief

– Six years?

– Small contract.

– Interesting.

– Things are moving in Minnesota.

– The Jets are on the move.