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In Hainsight: They Took the Best Player for them |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
It’s been a couple of months since the Canadiens selected David Reinbacher fifth overall at the NHL draft. When the team took the podium, plenty of fans were drooling at the thought that the Habs would be selecting a highly skilled Russian forward in Matvei Michkov, after all, Kent Hughes had said that they would select the best player available. But then, Carey Price stepped up to the microphone and said: “Bonsoir, les Canadiens de Montréal are proud to select David…” mercifully, Kent Hughes stepped up to complete the pick “We planned it that way, David Reinbacher”. Within seconds, social media exploded, how could the Canadiens select a defenseman in a draft that was so deep offensively, what happened to Hughes” “We’ll pick the best player”?
The truth of the matter is, the Canadiens took the best player for them, something that is made abundantly clear in Grant McCagg’s interview with Martin Lapointe. The Canadiens’ co-director of amateur scouting explained that for the organization, skills matter but it’s not the most important component when it comes to picking a player. As skillful as Michkov was, his compete level was not as high as Reinbacher’s and that matters. For Lapointe, it’s essential that the players picked by the Canadiens have a high compete level, they need it to be able to survive in a market like Montreal.
Just like Juraj Slafkovsky’s selection the year before, the Reinbacher pick can be explained by the high compete level he showed at the World Championships. Both players wanted to make a difference, to “be the guy” for their team. Even though their countries weren’t expected to win the tournament, they showed up and performed in the big games, which is something the organization values very highly.
I can’t say I was surprised by the explanation, it seemed clear to me right away that the Canadiens’ idea of “the best player available” perhaps wasn’t the same as other teams and that’s just fine, as long as it eventually works out, but right now, it’s too soon to tell if it will.
What also comes out of the interview is that Lapointe is not worried about Juraj Slafkovsky’s first season in the NHL, it always takes some time for Europeans to get acclimated to the play here and like many, he’s noticed that Slafkovsky was too often facing his own goal line when getting the puck and was getting hit hard, something the coaches are working on with him.
As for Reinbacher, he sees him as a player who could be a good partner for Lane Hutson if the small offensive defenseman makes it in the NHL. If you watched the development camp, you saw that they were often paired up and seemed to enjoy playing together, something which caught Lapointe’s eye.
I highly recommend subscribing to Recrutes to be able to read the integrality of this interview which sums up an 80-minute chat between McCagg and Lapointe, needless to say I was unable to tell you everything that’s in there in this short blog. Other highlights include how the Canadiens made their due diligence on Michkov, why they passed on Shane Wright, and how the decisions are made by the organization when it’s crunch time.
In an unrelated matter, Renaud Lavoie announced on Twitter this morning that journalist Yvon Pedneault had passed, I hope he rests in peace and I'm grateful for all the games I watched with him commenting, especially when I was younger. He was part of what made me a hockey fan all those years ago and he might be gone, but he won't be forgotten. RIP Yvon...
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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