Free washer | A look at Reinbacher, Hutson and Engström

David Reinbacher will ultimately be the only one, among the trio of CH defenders of the future, to benefit from an extended internship with the organization at the end of the season.

Adam Engström, 20, drafted in the third round in 2022, will not join Reinbacher in Laval anytime soon. His club, Rögle, has just caused a series surprise in Sweden by sweeping away the best team in the country and advancing to the final four.

Their first match against Växjö is scheduled for Friday and the fourth on Thursday, April 11. The Rocket would have three regular season games remaining if one of the two clubs were to sweep their opponent. There may remain a slim possibility of seeing Engström if Laval qualifies for the playoffs and has success there.

Laval or not, Engström will sign a contract with CH once his season is over and will likely begin his career in North America in 2024.

In the best-case scenario, the Canadiens will have two regular season games remaining when Lane Hutson’s season at Boston University ends. The Terriers beat the University of Minnesota on Saturday to reach the Frozen Four, played April 11-13. Unlike Engström, or Reinbacher already under contract, Hutson, 20 years old, will not have to go through Laval, because the stars of the NCAA have the privilege of directly accessing the National Hockey League in order to encourage them to sign an agreement as quickly as possible.

David Reinbacher, 19, has already played six games with the Rocket. This first pick, fifth overall, in 2023, got three points, a +4 record, and Laval won four games.

We knew Reinbacher’s potential. He assured and reassured. He was playing a sixth game in nine days on Saturday. Despite the residual fatigue caused by the travel, the jet lag, the hectic schedule, he was still up to the task.

The Rocket lost 5-2 to Belleville and Reinbacher may have been noticed a time or two for the wrong reasons, but his overall performance was very encouraging. He played 22 minutes in the Rocket’s last meeting. After six meetings, we can speak of a trend.

This young Austrian has excellent mobility for a 6-foot-2, 209-pound boy. Two qualities stand out: the speed at which this right-handed defender executes his plays and the quality of them, and his competitiveness. He doesn’t shy away from robust play and even seems to like it. He’s not shy. He wants the puck and is not afraid to attack. It is still used in the first wave of numerical inferiority, but not in numerical superiority.

Reinbacher looked bad in the eyes of some on the Senators’ third goal, the work of Jiri Smejkal, hidden behind him at the Rocket blue line. If we dissect the play, Reinbacher’s partner, Tobie Bisson, on the defensive left side, makes a nasty cross pass into the skates of Emil Heineman, he does not control it and a turnover is caused.

Bisson returns to the bench and Smejkal, two steps from him, turns off to nestle on the right behind Reinbacher. The latter does not notice it since he supports the attack behind Heineman without suspecting that there will be a turnaround. We separated Bisson and Reinbacher afterwards.

In the third period, however, Reinbacher was solely responsible for his mistake: an intercepted pass in the heart of the defensive zone when he could have easily passed it to his winger along the ramp. Without consequence, fortunately. And we can forgive him, because errors of judgment are rare in his case.

A tenacious defender

Engström, a 6-foot-2 left-handed defenseman, finds himself on a third pair of defenders in Rögle. He nevertheless plays between 18 and 20 minutes per game and has a position at the forefront during the second wave on the power play. Down by one goal in the fourth game of the series against Farjestads, he was paired in the third period with the team’s best defenseman, American Michael Kapla.

We will not show madness like a certain Swedish journalist did a few years ago by predicting a Norris Trophy for Mattias Norlinder. Engström nevertheless has a more interesting profile. His 22 points in 51 games are notable production for a young defenseman in a very competitive league, probably the best after the NHL, American League and KHL.

In his final year at Frölunda, at age 21, Norlinder, described as an offensive defenseman, had two assists in 21 games. Engström remains a much more complete defender. Its level of competitiveness is very high. He never gives up. He is difficult to beat one on one. He never hesitates to support the attack. Like Reinbacher, he is not afraid to stand out. He may be caught on the wrong foot and will have to be more vigilant in this regard. He will undoubtedly need a good learning season in Laval. Interestingly, Engström can play on the right or on the left, he even regularly alternates from one side to the other during a match!

Hutson still smoking

Lane Hutson played another great game, against the University of Minnesota on Saturday. And not just a few flashes, including the game-winning goal late in the second period in a 6-3 win, but overwhelming dominance in every aspect of the game in 28 minutes of work. This young man is now too strong for the NCAA.

Hutson, a late second-round pick in 2022 obtained in the Brett Kulak trade to Edmonton, could score six goals in a final game that will leave him in doubt for the rest of his NHL career due to his small size and his lack of explosiveness on skates.

But it is nonetheless difficult not to get carried away by such intelligence and fluidity on skates. Boston University’s opponents, the Gophers, Logan Cooley’s former club, with first-round draft picks Jimmy Snuggerud, Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel, weren’t a club devoid of talent either. The Terriers are a transformed club when Hutson is on the ice. The opponent struggles to touch the disc.

Former Penguins and Oilers defenseman Ryan Whitney, the fifth overall pick in 2002, a Boston University alum, doesn’t seem worried about Hutson’s future. “Lane Hutson was monstrous (a beast), supporters of the Canadian will be pampered,” he wrote on X.

Hutson now has 49 points, including 15 goals, in 37 games, a +15 record and five game-winning goals. In two seasons at BU, he amassed 97 points, including 30 goals, in 74 games, a +40 record and ten game-winning goals. It’s ripe for the next step after the Frozen Four…

The Jets are stalling, the CH is not complaining

The Winnipeg Jets were leading the Central Division at the start of March, tied with the Dallas Stars, but with three more games remaining. If the draft had taken place at that time, the Canadian would not have chosen before the 26th^e rank, even in the event of a defeat in the first playoff round by the Jets. But Winnipeg has won only three of its last ten games, plunged to third place in its section and is only four points ahead of Nashville, the penultimate qualified club.

If the draft were held today and assuming Winnipeg does not reach the final four (semi-finalists get the last four draft picks, from 29^e at 32^e rank), the Canadian would choose at 23^e rank this summer with this first round choice obtained for Sean Monahan. Tampa and Nashville can still hope to join the Jets in the overall ranking, which would confer 21^e choice at CH.

Monahan continues to produce regardless. He has 18 points in 26 games, including eight points in his last nine games, and usage time between 17 and 22 minutes.