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David Reinbacher hate wave: the Canadian has had to intervene in the past

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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David Reinbacher hate wave: the Canadian has had to intervene in the past

A wise man once said: It’s easier to unite people against something than for something. As proof, no one took to the streets to demonstrate for health measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. The opposite was true on many occasions.

Recently, we had a good example of this when a wave of hatred and derogatory comments broke out on social networks against David Reinbacher. The 18-year-old defenseman, the 5th overall pick in the last draft, found himself receiving thousands of hate messages on his Instagram account, turning a happy event in his life into something far less positive.

Try as we might to tell ourselves that this is a very vocal minority, it still doesn’t look good at all. It’s the entire Canadian fan base that finds itself perceived as having no manners. After all, it’s not like it was his fault that the team decided to draft him instead of Matveï Michkov. His only fault, if you really want to lay an ounce of blame on him, is to have been the best defenseman of his year. The kid’s not here to apologize for his good performances! That would be ridiculous.

What’s more, since he plays on the right, he’s even more attractive to Kent Hughes, who sees him as a potential partner for Lane Hutson on the team’s future first or second pairing. In a press conference, the general manager even pointed out, somewhat awkwardly, that if he’d played on the left, he wouldn’t have been as high on their list. I say awkwardly because he made up for it by saying that he was still the player highest on their list in the CH draft rankings. Sounds like someone who put his foot in his mouth and quickly realized his blunder.

But even with all that context, there’s no reason to pick on the young man. If anyone has something to prove today, it’s the Habs. They’re the ones under pressure to prove that they did the right thing by going over Michkov and the other available players when they took to the podium to announce their selection. And that’s the kind of question we won’t be able to answer for at least 3 or 4 years.

This avalanche of disparaging comments about a Habs player isn’t exactly a first in the team’s history. Jonathan Drouin has more often than not been the head of the fans’ Turc. It was Scott Gomez before him. Patrice Brisebois before that. It seems there’s always someone to blame for the team’s setbacks.

Even excellent players have been taken to task by disgruntled fans. Today, Carey Price has become an untouchable, but that wasn’t always the case. Over the course of his career, he’s had his share of vocal detractors, and it’s taken its toll. Speaking on the Sortie de zone podcast on La Presse and 98.5 Sports, Stéphane Waite revealed that management has already had to intervene with Carey Price.

“Take a look. Stop worrying about it. It’s a minority of people.” – Stéphane Waite to Carey Price

According to him, 95% of fans adored Carey Price, but it was the 5% of disgruntled fans who were most visible on social networks. Considering the number of #31 jerseys sold over the years and the many standing ovations for him at the Bell Centre, there’s not much doubt that the majority of fans love Price. However, the negative comments still affected him, and at some point the organization felt it had to intervene to calm things down.

In the same vein, I hope for David Reinbacher’s sake that the Montreal Canadiens intervened to make sure he was all right, and that he had access to all the support he needed if he needed it. In fact, I’m glad that some people decided to compensate by showing him that he was welcome in Montreal, and that the vast majority wished him the best of luck.

Thanks to all these people, it restores a little faith in humanity.


In gusto

– Captain Suzuki spoke to the hopefuls.

– Lane Hutson is just too strong for the rest of the players at the development camp.

– All the goals of the day at camp in one place.

– Does anyone know the connection between Max Domi, Tom Brady and Mark Wahlberg?

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