David Reinbacher’s preseason turned heads in Montreal, but it won’t carry him onto the Canadiens’ opening-night roster. The former fifth-overall pick is headed to the Laval Rocket to begin the season after the Canadiens made their final roster cuts, a decision that came as something of a surprise after the way he looked in camp.
Reinbacher had put together the kind of summer and preseason that usually builds a path straight into the NHL. The work was obvious, the added size stood out, and the confidence in his game showed up on the ice.
The coaching staff was complimentary throughout, and for a while it looked as though this might finally be the season he breaks through full-time. Instead, when Montreal revealed the seven defencemen set to start the year in the NHL, Reinbacher’s name was missing.
There’s no denying the situation is shaped in part by the injuries that have slowed his development. He played only 11 games in 2024-25 after a knee injury in preseason, then missed the start of last season because a hand injury kept him out for the first month. More than 60 games were lost across those two seasons, and that history likely weighed heavily in the Canadiens’ thinking even after such a strong preseason.
For Reinbacher, though, the assignment in Laval should mean one thing above all else: real minutes. That’s the next step the Canadiens want him to take.
Kaiden Guhle is expected to miss the first couple of weeks, but once he returns, he could take away a big chunk of the ice time Reinbacher might otherwise have seen. Montreal clearly did not want him stuck in and out of the lineup as a seventh defenceman.
In Laval, the opportunity looks much clearer. With Adam Engstrom on the Canadiens roster to start the season, Reinbacher will be the top name on the Rocket blue line.
The AHL does not publish ice time the way the NHL does, but the expectation is that his workload will jump significantly. He should be in line for meaningful minutes in every situation, including penalty-kill work and late-game shifts.
This also isn’t just a simple case of preseason performance versus roster outcome. Waiver rules likely played a role as well. If Montreal had chosen Reinbacher over Jayden Struble or Arber Xhekaj for a spot in Laval, both of those players would have needed waivers to go down, and the Canadiens would have risked losing them for nothing.
That leaves Engstrom and Reinbacher as the clearest comparison. Engstrom’s case was built on a bigger body of AHL work.
He has played 111 games with the Rocket over the past two seasons and produced strongly on offence last year. He was also named to the AHL’s 2025-26 Top Prospects Team after putting up 34 points in 45 games.
Reinbacher’s turn will come. And if he carries anything close to this preseason form into Laval, it would not be a surprise to see him force his way back into the NHL before the season is over.
In Other News...
Canadiens Sent David Reinbacher Down For A Bigger Reason
David Reinbachers latest assignment to Laval says more about the Canadiens roster picture than it does about his play. Montreals decision was not a reflection of how he performed, but a sign of how the club wants to manage a young defenseman who is still best served by getting major minutes rather than sitting in a limited role on the NHL bench.
The timing matters, too, because the Canadiens are getting healthier on the blue line. With Kaiden Guhle edging closer to a return, the immediate need for an extra defenseman has eased, leaving Montreal with a choice that favors development over depth. For now, Reinbacher stays where the games can give him more responsibility, even if the path back up becomes clearer again soon. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Trade Interest Just Raised The Stakes For Kent Hughes
The Canadiens spent part of the summer exploring a bigger swing, with Frank Seravalli reporting that management had considered packaging Kirby Dach in a larger deal if it meant bringing immediate help back the other way. It was the kind of roster-thinking that makes sense for a team trying to accelerate its timeline, and it also showed how aggressively Kent Hughes has been willing to survey the market when there is a chance to reshape the lineup.
Montreal had Kirill Marchenko in mind as a possible target before he was moved to Toronto, which forced the Canadiens to keep searching for another path. The Edmonton Oilers also showed interest in Dach, but Hughes appears to be holding out for a more significant trade opening, leaving the next move tied to whether a better fit comes available. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Still Need One Big Piece As Trade Pressure Builds
The Canadiens have been searching for one more top-six forward as the season approaches, and the trade chatter around them is starting to sound less like background noise and more like a real deadline. Darren Dreger indicated that general manager Kent Hughes may still be working on a deal before opening night, with Montreals salary-cap flexibility giving it room to stay in the hunt for an impactful addition.
One name drawing attention is a right-shot winger from Columbus who brings proven scoring and a manageable cap hit at $3.85 million, along with the kind of production that would fit Montreals need for immediate help. The Blue Jackets have signaled they want a good player back and have also maintained he is not available, which leaves the Canadiens weighing how aggressive they want to be without emptying out the sort of assets they would prefer to keep off the table. [Read more 🡒]