Since recovering from his hand injury in the first half of the AHL season, Reinbacher has been healthy consistently and made strides in his defensive impact for the Laval Rocket. He appears to have figured out how to make up for some skating inefficiencies and looks primed for a call up in case of injury. With the Habs looking towards the NHL playoffs, his first NHL game may occur in the last few games of the NHL season or during the NHL playoffs as Montreal did not make any meaningful trades at the deadline to boost their defensive depth at the NHL level. With that said, it does not look like Reinbacher will have a meaningful offensive contribution for Fantasy Managers as he is shaping up to be a defensively sound two-way defender. He can likely help with blocks and plus/minus, but expecting him to exceed half a point per game or get meaningful PP1 opportunities with the likes of Lane Hutson, Dobson and eventually Pickford around is likely going to lead to disappointment.

Health concerns continue to delay Reinbacher’s development at the early stages of the 2025-26 season, as he has only played in five games so far for the Laval Rocket after breaking his metacarpal bone in his hand during the preseason with the Canadiens. During the preseason, he did not appear ready to hold down a position in the Canadiens’ top-six, which is somewhat understandable after Reinbacher missed a significant portion of the 2024-25 season. Reinbacher needs a full season in the AHL to find his groove before getting a crack at the NHL, unless he dominates the AHL within the next couple of months to earn a call-up. Ioan Gheordanescu

Health was a major struggle for Reinbacher this year. He managed to appear in only 28 games, playing for the Laval Rockets and representing Austria internationally. The second year after the draft is crucial for the development of a prospect, and with Reinbacher missing essentially all of it due to a collision during the preseason, he was robbed of a big year. However, when he did play, he looked quite solid, posting five points in 10 games for Laval during the regular season, six points in 13 playoff games, and four points in five international games for Austria. A big part of Reinbacher’s recovery was load management, so he often missed games during the regular season, which he could have played, but he would have risked reinjuring himself. What seems to be Reinbacher’s biggest flaw, aside from his health, is his upside. He just seems good in most aspects of the game without a truly elite trait that takes a defenseman from the second pair to the first pair. While he may never be a number one defenseman, he does not need to be one, as the Canadiens have Calder trophy winner Lane Hutson on their left side. Ideally, Reinbacher becomes a dominant force alongside Hutson for a decade or so, but if he is not on the top pair, then he would be a very solid second-pairing defenseman.

David Reinbacher had a fine, albeit silent appearance in the Montreal Canadiens’ prospect tournament. He showed off his high-end mobility, and looks imposing physically. It would be irresponsible to gauge much on just these two games, but it is likely the path forward for him will be big minutes in the AHL as he crawls towards the upside that led him to be drafted fifth overall.

It’s official – David Reinbacher’s time in the NL is over, and he will be making his North American debut in the coming days. Reinbacher has begun to grow into his body more over the last months, and it will be incredibly interesting to see how he fits in on North American ice as the playoffs loom in the AHL.