Primeur: David Reinbacher has problems with both knees

David Reinbacher has been a member of the Canadiens organization for almost three weeks now.

He got his first taste of Montreal by taking part in a few activities, including the CH development camp. He made a good first impression on CH fans and management…

Even if he wasn’t 100%. Let me explain.

During an appearance on CHOI-FM’s“Le retour de Radio X” program, hosted by Jordan Boivin, Maxime Truman confided that the young defenseman has problems with both knees.

This is because he has Osgood-Schlatter disease, a “common cause of knee pain in children and adolescents”. The disease causes cartilage and bone to crumble in both knees.

These problems affected him to the point where, at the development camp, he had to skate with splints on both knees. This made it difficult for him to change direction and accelerate quickly on the ice.

It’s a bit worrying.

The good news? If the disease doesn’t degenerate and is controlled within the next year, there won’t be any consequences. And since his growth plates haven’t closed yet, there’s a world of opportunity for Reinbacher to grow even more, as reported in recent weeks :

I was lucky enough to be present at the intrasquad game during the development camp and I thought, basically, that Reinbacher lacked a bit of explosion on skates.

This concurs with Maxime Truman’s information.

Clearly, Reinbacher’s problems could prompt the Habs to send him back to Europe for next season, for the simple reason that he’s not physically ready to play in the NHL or the AHL.

Field hockey in North America is much more physical than in Europe, due to the size of the rinks and the more aggressive style of play, and the Habs won’t want to risk seeing him hurt even more.

All in all, this will be a particularly interesting case to watch. Of course, we hope that there are no further consequences to his illness, so that he can be at full fitness in a few years’ time.

Otherwise, we’ll be hearing about it for a long time to come.

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