Cowan: Canadiens bank on healthy David Reinbacher to blossom into NHLer
Reinbacher, the No. 5 overall pick at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, didn't play again until late February with the AHL's Laval Rocket.
'The guy came and I tried to protect myself,' Reinbacher said Thursday about the hit from Rifai when Rocket players met with the media for the last time this season after getting swept by the Charlotte Checkers in the Eastern Conference final. 'I kind of hooked in the boards with my heel and I fell down. I heard a click right away in my knee. I stood up and tried to finish the shift, but I couldn't put weight on (it). I jumped over the boards and I knew, OK, it's over.'
Life has not been easy for the 20-year-old Austrian since the Canadiens drafted him. Many Canadiens fans were upset the team didn't draft forward Matvei Michkov instead and expressed their anger on social media. Michkov posted 26-37-63 totals in 80 games this season as a rookie with the Philadelphia Flyers, who took him with the No. 7 overall pick at the 2023 draft.
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Edmonton Journal
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National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Oilers notebook: We hardly knew ye, Reid Schaefer
Article content Funny you should ask. Article content The former Edmonton Oilers first-round draft pick, part of the trade package along with Tyson Barrie to get defenceman Mattias Ekholm from Nashville in 2023—the most impactful trade move of former GM Ken Holland's five-year tenure here—is healthy now after shoulder surgery last season while the left-winger, 21, was playing on the top line in AHL Milwaukee. Article content Schaefer, who was at Rogers Place last June for games 2 and 5 of the Stanley Cup Final series against Florida, was only part of the Oilers organization for eight months but he's never left fan status, growing up in Spruce Grove. But realistically, Schaefer, at Perry Pearn's annual 3-on-3 pro camp here, is likely in a better place in Nashville, trying to get to the NHL, than here after two straight Cup runs by Edmonton. Article content But, as they say, we hardly knew ye, Reid Schaefer. Article content 'I was a little shocked at first. 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