The 2022 NHL Entry Draft was thought to be rather volatile with how things shook up with a few weeks to go until draft day. Shane Wright was the consensus number one pick for almost 2+ years and whoever ended up with the first overall pick was more than likely taking the Kingston Frontenacs centre.
After that it was supposed to be a crap-shoot but Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley were expected to go 2-3 and then David Jiricek and Simon Nemec would follow. The Flyers were expected to take one of the two defensemen until the final week when Cutter Gauthier started climbing the ranks.
As we got closer and closer to draft day, Slafkovsky started to overtake Wright and it seemed like the New Jersey Devils were going to be able to nab the once-sought-after prospect. The plot-twist here was that New Jersey ended up drafting Simon Nemec 2nd after Slafkovsky, Cooley went 3rd as expected, and the Seattle Kraken ended up selecting Wright. The Flyers ended up taking the higher-risk but high-reward selection in Gauthier over the much safer Jiricek but forwards were a necessity last year.
Now that the system has Gauthier, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Elliot Desnoyers with Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett in the NHL, and veterans in Travis Konecny, the Flyers forward depth is pretty good. Conversely their defense is a little shoddy with not much quantity or quality. Ronnie Attard, Egor Zamula, Emil Andrae, and Helge Grans find themselves at the top of the list, but after them it’s somewhat of a slippery slope with raw prospects or AHLers.
The 2023 NHL Entry Draft might provide even more twists and turns but more importantly, it’s extremely loaded and deep all throughout the first round. 2022 was good from 1-5 but provided a lot of question marks after that. For what we have heard and seen with the 2023 class, it can stretch well into the second round.
In a forward-heavy draft, the Flyers find themselves in a tough spot drafting at number 7. Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson, and Will Smith are assuredly gone by the time Daniel Briere steps up to the podium. Matvei Michkov and Zach Benson should be out of the question as well, leaving the Flyers with forwards like Ryan Leonard, Oliver Moore, and Dalibor Dvorsky. However some think there’s a risk with Michkov, where he’s perhaps pulling a Jaromir Jagr and he’s purposely tanking his draft stock for a preferred destination. If that is the case and he’s not taken in the first 6 picks and the Flyers balk as well, that would leave them with Moore, Dvorsky, and Nate Danielson.
Believing that to be the case, would it be outrageous for the Flyers to divert their attention away from the aforementioned forwards and go for defenseman, David Reinbacher? The forwards between 8-20 are a dime a dozen and the Flyers could still nab a good one in perhaps Colby Barlow, Brayden Yager, Andrew Cristall, Riley Heidt, and Gabriel Perreault among others.
Due to the disparity and volatility after the 4-5-6 picks, many believe that the Flyers might now be focusing on Reinbacher. The Austrian defenseman has slowly and quietly risen in the draft rankings and is by far the number one rearguard of this draft class. I wrote a few weeks ago that with Reinbacher and Axel Sandin Pellikka more than likely being outside the top-10, the Flyers could look to bolster their defense by trading up from the 22nd slot while drafting a top notch forward at 7. Since then, Reinbacher has continued his ascension and is expected to be a top-10 pick.
It still seems silly to think that Michkov won’t be drafted in the top-6 and if he is indeed off the board and the Flyers have a shot between Leonard/Benson or Reinbacher, where do you think they go? Or better yet, which is the better player to draft with how the Flyers are stacked up?
The Flyers could bolster their defense with their second pick with players like Dmitriy Simashev, Mikhail Gulyayev, or Oliver Bonk but they don’t sit in the same stratosphere as Reinbacher – as of today.
Reinbacher stands in at 6’2″ and weighs 185 pounds, is a right-hand shot, and played for EHC Kloten of the National League, which is the top tier Swiss league. His draft season ended with him scoring 3 goals and 22 points in 46 games, before he added 2 points in 5 games for Austria at the World Juniors and then another assist in 4 games at the World Championships.
Joe Maciag of Recruit Scouting: “The trademark of his offensive game is his effective shot which is able to find the net through any screen and can be a real problem for netminders. Not only this but Reinbacher is extremely consistent in his placement of his shot as he either goes mid glove or mid blocker.”
Miroslav Simurka of FC Hockey: “On the rush, he makes it very difficult for the attacker to beat him wide or to access the triangle between his legs and stick. In the defensive zone he is tough to play against, as he defends actively with his stick and body to hold the play to the outside.”
Marek Novotny of EP Rinkside: “Reinbacher is a force in transition, active in all three zones, and proficient at generating defensive stops. He’s a powerful, agile skater, but where he stands out for me is his commitment and ability to read the play and then react as a quality defensive defenseman. He’s playing massive minutes as a first-time draft-eligible skater in Switzerland’s top men’s league.”
He is the most NHL ready, has the offensive flair you’re looking from a top-end draft pick but is even stronger on the defensive side of things, and he plays in all situations which is extremely tantalizing. For reference, fellow Swiss-product, Roman Josi, only scored 8 points in 35 games during his draft year and then 24 points in 42 games the following year – eerily identical numbers that Reinbacher hit but a year earlier.
Similar to Noah Cates, one of Reinbacher’s greatest strengths is his hockey IQ and as we saw this past season, Cates is a very intelligent centre who can become a legitimate two-way threat down the road. He was drafted in the 5th round with those very same intangibles, so imagine the projected-first-rounder in Reinbacher who carris a high defensive IQ while also being compared to Roman Josi. IQ can’t be overlooked from a hockey player, especially a defenseman and the Flyers of all teams should know that they can’t just pluck defensemen off the street and put them in their lineup. It hasn’t worked before and should be an abolished train of thought.
He has everything you’re looking for in a top-2 defenseman and the Flyers are in a position where they desperately need quality on the backend. With Ivan Provorov gone and Travis Sanheim remaining inconsistent, Cam York has become the cream of the crop with perhaps Emil Andrae holding a high ceiling as the second best prospect. It might not be the flashy pick we were expecting the Flyers to make a few weeks ago, let alone a few months ago, but he’s a complete player, is NHL-ready, and eligible to play in the AHL next season if the Flyers see that as a better fit than the National League in Switzerland.
They will still be able to draft a good forward later in the first round who could be closer to prospects like Dvorsky and Moore than a defenseman who is a tier or two below Reinbacher. Simashev, Gulyayev, and Bonk are good prospects but don’t hold the same flair, flash, and completeness that Reinbacher holds.
Keith Jones said he wants to build from the defense-out and that could start with drafting Reinbacher 7th overall pick on the 28th of June at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
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