With its 5th overall pick in a vintage full of forwards with huge offensive potentials, including Matvei Michkov, and given that Kent Hughes received no fewer than six trade offers for his selection, the team finally chose defenseman David Reinbacher.
There's no need to tell you, Reinbacher's choice was very poorly received by a very large majority of the Tricolore's fans. The fact that they did not trade back their pick, or did not select the Russian phenomenon with it, was not well received in public opinion.
However, an advanced statistics expert and Montreal native, Thibaud Chatel, worked throughout the season with the Swiss elite league teams, where Reinbacher played, to gather and provide accurate analysis on the players.
He notably analyzed 22 matches of the Canadiens' pick with his team, and here is the very interesting result of his analyses:
To delve deeper, we also have a prospects model that looks at every player from 16 to 22 years old and projects their potential career up to the age of 30.
On this model, Reinbacher was squarely the second-best player in the entire draft, behind (Connor) Bedard, with a 52% chance of being an "elite" player (in the top 10%) of the league on average over the next decade.
It's reassuring to hear such statements. The future is very promising for the 18-year-old, and it's now time to turn the page and trust in his development. If he truly becomes a first-pair defenseman, he will become an asset to the team's success for many years to come.
Credit : HabsetLNH.com
POLL | ||
Now that several hours have passed since the first round of the draft, which option would you have preferred for the Canadiens? | ||
Matvei Michkov was the right choice | 58 | 24.1 % |
David Reinbacher, I trust the Canadiens | 112 | 46.5 % |
Trade the pick if they didn't select Michkov | 47 | 19.5 % |
I would have preferred another player | 24 | 10 % |
List of polls |