The Canadian published Thursday evening a short documentary presenting the underside of the 2023 draft. We see the unanimity of the group of recruiters from the Habs concerning the choice of David Reinbacher in 5th place.
The twenty-minute documentary begins with images from the NHL evaluation camp, which precedes the draft, and a few passages from interviews with David Reinbacher and Jacob Fowler, who were ultimately selected by the CH. Then, we present images of a meeting of the hockey staff in the days preceding the draft session.
By listening to the few exchanges revealed, we guess that the organization hesitated between Reinbacher and another player, whose name is not revealed in the documentary. At one point, vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton reminded his group how difficult it can be to get a talented player in this league, other than in the draft.
“Sometimes we take a chance and… Looks like this room said ‘no, we don’t want to take that chance.’ I just want to make sure we make the right decision,” Gorton suggests.
Co-director of scouting Martin Lapointe then referred to Reinbacher as a player who “only thinks about winning, [who is] not selfish.” Eastern Europe scout Michal Krupa adds: “Everyone talks about defense, but I think he’s so special offensively as well. He’s so good on the power play, he moves well, he reads the game well, he organizes, he passes…”
“Is it now Reinbacher in front of [beep] for everyone?” Gorton then asks.
The documentary also features heated exchanges from the group of scouts about other players, such as Fowler or Florian Xhekaj, and ends with footage from the tryout.
“The future is incredible,” Martin St-Louis told Reinbacher at the Habs table. You are exactly what we need. »
