Stu Cowan: Canadiens have high hopes for David Reinbacher and Ivan Demidov
Development of the two players — both selected with the No. 5 overall pick at NHL drafts — will be key to future success of rebuilding Habs.
David Reinbacher’s first year of development after being selected by the Canadiens with the No. 5 overall pick at last year’s NHL Draft didn’t go very well.
The Canadiens returned the defenceman to the Swiss-A league for a second season with Kloten HC. Kloten had lost six of its first nine games before Reinbacher arrived after attending his first Canadiens training camp.
Things didn’t get better for Kloten after Reinbacher arrived and the 19-year-old defenceman suffered two injuries — one to his knee and another to his hand. Kloten went through three head coaches and finished the season in 13th place in the 14-team league with a 17-29-6 record. Reinbacher had 1-10-11 totals in 35 games, along with a minus-15 differential.
Rob Ramage, the Canadiens’ director of player development, went to visit the struggling Reinbacher. He showed him video of former Canadiens defenceman Shea Weber, trying to get Reinbacher to simplify his game.
“It was a tough season in Kloten,” Ramage said last week when the Canadiens held their development camp in Brossard. “He went through three coaches. He had such a good (training) camp here. His maturity on the ice is beyond what he is off the ice. I think I went in there end of November. He had just come back from injury. The team was struggling, he was struggling.
