2026 Montreal Canadiens Top 25 Under 25: #8 David Reinbacher

Introduction

David Reinbacher finally got the season he had been waiting for, even if it did take a few detours to get there.

The Montreal Canadiens’ fifth-overall pick from the 2023 NHL Draft spent the 2025-26 season with the Laval Rocket, playing 57 games and recording five goals and 19 assists. He also finished with a plus-18 rating and 56 penalty minutes, numbers that give us a decent snapshot of a defenceman becoming more comfortable in his own end, increasingly willing to engage physically, and not afraid to make himself noticed.

When explaining the selection back in 2023, Kent Hughes said the organization was getting a big, right-shot defenceman with strong defensive instincts, good mobility, and the ability to make smart decisions with the puck. The problem was that Canadiens fans didn’t get much of a chance to see those qualities develop. Reinbacher played just 11 games with Laval after coming over from Switzerland in 2023-24 before his season was cut short. The following year wasn’t much better, with a knee injury sustained during Canadiens training camp keeping him out for most of the season. He played just 10 regular-season games and 13 playoff games with the Rocket.

Then, just to make sure everyone stayed suitably nervous, another injury delayed the start of his 2025-26 campaign. That made this past season particularly important. For the first time since arriving in North America, Reinbacher was able to spend the vast majority of a season actually developing instead of rehabbing. The 57 games gave us a much better look at what Montreal has been waiting to see. By the end of the season, the Canadiens had seen enough to give him his big shot. Reinbacher stepped in for an injured Noah Dobson and recorded an assist in his NHL debut before playing one more game and returning to Laval.

Now, heading into the 2026-27 season, after three years of stops, starts, and enough patience to test even the most optimistic prospect watcher, Reinbacher finally has something he hasn’t had much of since Montreal drafted him: momentum.

Voting

Reinbacher slid two spots from his 2025 sixth-place finish, landing at eighth this time around. There was still fairly strong agreement among the panel, with six of eight panellists placing him between sixth and 10th. His votes ranged from sixth to 14th, which suggests there’s some debate around his ceiling but not much disagreement that he belongs in the top 10.

While his community vote peaked at his landing spot of eighth, he has a positively skewed distribution with about 50% more votes higher than that position than below. Despite the lack of playing time, he’s still clearly regarded as one of the top prospects in the organization.

Top 25 Under 25 History

Reinbacher has been a top-10 fixture since entering the Top 25 Under 25 countdown, never straying far from the seventh spot he debuted at. His eighth-place finish this year is his lowest yet, but he remains firmly among the countdown’s top players.

History of #8

Strengths

Reinbacher’s biggest strength is also the thing that can make him easy to overlook in a prospect pool featuring flashier players: he doesn’t need to have the puck on his stick every shift to influence the game.

He’s a smart, positionally sound defenceman who generally seems to know where he needs to be before the play gets there. That was evident in his scouting reports before the draft, and it remained a consistent part of his game in Laval. That intelligence allows him to defend without throwing himself into every play. He can use his positioning and active stick to close off options, then make the first pass and get his team moving in the other direction.

Josiah Didier, who spent most of last season sitting beside Reinbacher in the Laval locker room, believes his hockey sense is one of his biggest assets. During his conversation with our Patrik Bexell, he shared that Reinbacher “sees plays before they’re gonna happen,” knows where his teammates and opponents will be, and seems to slow the game down in his head while still playing at its pace. That ability to anticipate what’s coming allows him to get into position early rather than constantly having to recover from a play that’s already developed. He can make quick decisions under pressure and, rather than simply getting the puck out and hoping for the best, has the skating and awareness to help turn defence into offence. It was one of the qualities Hughes liked when he drafted him, describing his breakout decisions as “elite.”

And, of course, we have to mention the physical component. At 6’3″ and 209 pounds, Reinbacher has the frame to make life unpleasant for opposing forwards, and he has shown that in the AHL. Didier saw that side of him firsthand: “When he’s physical, he’s really hard to play against.”

Weaknesses

Reinbacher has the skating, shot, and playmaking ability needed to play in the NHL. The bigger question is whether he can consistently put all of those pieces together. There are stretches when he looks every bit like an NHL defenceman, and others when you forget he’s even out there. That’s not unusual for a young player, but Reinbacher needs to make those disappearing acts less frequent. At this stage, it’s less about adding another tool to the toolbox and more about getting the old faithfuls to show up every night.

The injury bug seems determined to make itself part of the Reinbacher story. He’s already missed a significant number of games during some pretty important development years, and you can’t get that time back. For a player who still needs to find his consistency, spending more time in the press box than on the ice is not exactly ideal.

Projection

Reinbacher projects as a potential top-four NHL defenceman, but there’s a little more uncertainty around what that ultimately looks like. His game isn’t built around one standout skill, which makes his ceiling a little harder to pin down, but it also gives him the versatility to play in a variety of situations.

He doesn’t need to suddenly become the most attention-grabbing player on the ice. In fact, that’s probably never going to be his game. But if he can continue to make his reads, move the puck efficiently, and use his size and skating to make life difficult for opponents, there’s a pretty useful NHL defenceman ready to take the stage. If his development continues to trend in the right direction, he has the potential to become the kind of defenceman coaches trust, teammates appreciate, and opponents don’t particularly enjoy playing against.

The big question is how quickly he can get there.