There were a number of prospects who looked promising during the Ottawa Senators training camp and preseason. Of those, Carter Yakemchuk was the clear favourite, leading the team with seven points in four games, prompting a lively discussion on whether he should stick around for nine games or be allowed to play in the American Hockey League (AHL). Jan Jenik, Zack Ostapchuk, Donovan Sebrango, and Cole Reinhardt also shone in the preseason, but in the end, the only rookie who made the Senators’ opening night roster was Tyler Kleven, which was all but guaranteed heading into the 2024-25 season.
With so many intriguing prospects in the minors, few would have expected Reinhardt to get one of the first call-ups following an injury. Yet that’s exactly what happened on Oct. 20, with the Senators announcing the transaction to fill in for the injured Ridly Greig. However, after beginning the season with two goals and five points in three games, including a three-point game on Oct 19, he was the obvious choice for Ottawa, which also makes him your Senators’ Prospect of the Week for the week of Oct. 15-21.
Reinhardt’s Long Journey Through the AHL
Reinhardt was arguably an afterthought following the stacked Senators 2020 NHL Entry Draft class. After all, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Greig, Roby Jarventie, Kleven, and Egor Sokolov were all taken in the first two rounds, and all of them got off to fantastic starts in 2020-21. Reinhardt, on the other hand, was a 20-year-old sixth-round selection, taken with Ottawa’s last selection, who had never scored more than 55 points in a single season in the Western Hockey League (WHL). As an AHL rookie in 2020-21, he put up just six goals and 12 points in 33 games for the Belleville Senatore; Sokolov, also an AHL rookie, led the team with 15 goals and 25 points in 35 games.
Next season went much better for Reinhardt. He doubled his offensive production, scoring 15 goals and tallying 30 points over 70 games, but his point-per-game (PPG) rate stayed roughly the same, increasing from 0.37 PPG to 0.43 PPG. Still, he was proving to be a valuable depth player and complemented Sokolov well, so, following a slough of injuries and illnesses, the Senators called him up for his NHL debut on April 7, 2022. He played eight-and-a-half minutes, threw two hits, and had one penalty, but overall looked nervous and overwhelmed, which was not…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…