It’s a good thing David Reinbacher doesn’t play for Rod Brind’Amour

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
It’s a good thing David Reinbacher doesn’t play for Rod Brind’Amour
Credit: Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images

It's a good thing David Reinbacher doesn't play for Rod Brind'Amour.

Why do I say that? Because the Carolina Hurricanes' coach doesn't believe preseason games matter. He'd rather see 86-game seasons so he could eliminate the ones that don't count.

In his view, preseason games have little impact on the final composition of teams.

It's a good thing he's not coaching David Reinbacher (or even Florian Xhekaj) in Montreal. After all, even though the defenseman entered camp with a positive reputation, the games helped him.

The guy chose to put pressure on himself by saying he was going to deliver… and he's delivering.

Three years after being the top defenseman in his draft class in the NHL, David Reinbacher is proving he can play in the National Hockey League.

And even though he'll likely never live up to the expectations that come with being the fifth overall pick, he can help the Canadiens—if he stays healthy, of course.

Seeing him play alongside Lane Hutson (who liked the Austrian defenseman's play) has been on the cards for years. But yesterday, we really saw just how well it could work.

And make no mistake: that pairing wasn't a coincidence…

Kent Hughes (who likes Reinbacher's camp), Jeff Gorton, and Martin St-Louis know, however, that if the Canadiens wanted to keep a Hutson-Reinbacher pairing, it would create risks for the third pairing.

Because, unless Alexandre Carrier is healthy enough to play as early as next week, pairing Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj together wouldn't be ideal.

I imagine the next few days will give us some clues on that front. Not today, though, since it's a day off in Brossard for the Habs players, but anyway.

Stay tuned, then.


In a nutshell

– The atmosphere in Trois-Rivières was excellent.

– Ouch.

– Things are heating up.

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