Development of the two players — both selected with the No. 5 overall pick at NHL drafts — will be key to future success of rebuilding Habs.
The Canadiens returned the defenceman to the Swiss-A league for a second season with Kloten HC. Kloten had lost six of its first nine games before Reinbacher arrived after attending his first Canadiens training camp.
Things didn’t get better for Kloten after Reinbacher arrived and the 19-year-old defenceman suffered two injuries — one to his knee and another to his hand. Kloten went through three head coaches and finished the season in 13th place in the 14-team league with a 17-29-6 record. Reinbacher had 1-10-11 totals in 35 games, along with a minus-15 differential.
“It was a tough season in Kloten,” Ramage said last week when the Canadiens held their development camp in Brossard. “He went through three coaches. He had such a good (training) camp here. His maturity on the ice is beyond what he is off the ice. I think I went in there end of November. He had just come back from injury. The team was struggling, he was struggling.
“We had some really good conversations when we were there,” Ramage added. “I think there were a lot of voices hitting on him at that point and I really wanted him to simplify that. Sometimes these guys can really overthink the game and that will translate right into their hands and their feet. So we did that and his second half was better and then I think he played very well when he came to Laval.”
Reinbacher played 11 games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket after Kloten’s season ended, posting 2-3-5 totals and a plus-6 differential. He didn’t attend the Canadiens’ development camp last week, with the team preferring the Austrian stay home to continue his summer training.
Ramage said he was “real happy” Reinbacher got to play games in Laval and he will probably start next season with the Rocket.
“That’s going to help him this year when he comes to camp,” Ramage said. “Those were critical games. We were fighting for a playoff spot and he did well.”
Former Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle agrees.
Houle noted that Reinbacher had good gap control and a “really good” stick, but added the 6-foot-3, 209-pounder needs to get stronger.
“It’s a little different with the Russians right now — especially with what’s going on in our world,” Ramage said. “But we’ll have eyes on him. Nick Bobrov (the Canadiens’ co-director of amateur scouting) is very connected (in Russia). So we’ll do our best. But it’s a bit more of a difficult situation.
“I met him briefly in Las Vegas after the draft,” Ramage added about Demidov, who had 23-37-60 totals in 30 games last season with the St. Petersburg junior team and was held pointless in four KHL games. “Solid. Seemed like a confident young man. Very excited to be a Montreal Canadien.”
Demidov doesn’t have a Canadian visa yet, so he didn’t attend the development camp. But he’s definitely looking forward to playing for the Canadiens and isn’t worried about the pressure that will come with being a high first-round pick in Montreal.
Demidov also believes he can become a game-breaker for the Canadiens, who are desperate to add more offence from their forwards after ranking 26th in the NHL in scoring last season and 27th on the power play.
The Canadiens certainly hope so.
They also hope Reinbacher can develop into a solid NHL defenceman.