Bad News for Canadiens Top Prospect David Reinbacher: Out Five to Six Months

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Tom Banks
October 1, 2024 (12:05)

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The Montreal Canadiens suffered a double blow during Saturday's pre-season game with Toronto, and now they've officially revealed David Reinbacher's status.

Since Saturday, Montreal Canadiens fans have been waiting for an update on both Patrik Laine and David Reinbacher, and now some very bad news has been confirmed for the top prospect.

According to a report, Reinbacher, who was the No. 5 overall pick for Montreal in the 2023 NHL Draft, will miss between five and six months with a knee injury that he suffered during the pre-season. While Reinbacher's injury wasn't under brutal circumstances like his teammate Laine, missing this time will still be a huge blow to his development as he was looking to potentially push for a roster spot at some point this season.

That report has since been confirmed by the Canadiens official X account, with the talented young Austrian defenseman on the shelf for up to six months, likely pushing his highly anticipated NHL debut to the 2025/26 season at the earliest, depending on how this changes his development upon return.

The 19-year old blue liner was expected to be a huge part of the Canadiens future and potentially push for a spot on their team at some point in 2024/25, but now, he will be on the sidelines until February at the earliest, an absence that will be a major hinderance to his development. In 11 games with the AHL's Laval Rocket a season ago, Reinbacher showed off his immense talent, tallying 2 goals and 5 points in that short stint, and with an impressive pre-season, there was a great chance he could push for a roster spot this season before the injury occurred.

At 6-foot-2, Reinbacher has the rare combination of size, skill, hockey IQ and physicality, and despite all of the criticism the pick received during the 2023 NHL Draft, the team are confident in the move. They've since added the likes of Ivan Demidov to their prospect group, and if every player can live up to the hype in Montreal, it will bring them one step closer to completing their rebuild.

Many believe that Reinbacher could be an elite top-pairing defenseman at the NHL level, but now, the team will need to show even more patience as he deals with this absence, and while he could be back in 5-6 months, getting to 100% and developing further may take much more time.