Here's the final decision Martin St-Louis has made on prospect David Reinbacher

David Reinbacher is still stuck behind a stacked blue line, and Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis made that pretty clear on Wednesday.

St-Louis was blunt when asked about the 21-year-old defenseman's development path heading into the new season.

"For a young defenseman like him, he needs to keep getting stronger," St-Louis said. "He has size, he's putting on weight, and his hockey brain is very good."

Then came the real message. "We have a pretty deep D-corps right now, so he's had to get a lot of his reps in Laval."

Reinbacher has appeared in just two NHL games so far, picking up one assist and no goals. His cap hit sits at $886,666.

Here's the thing though. Is that blue line actually as deep as St-Louis says?

Kaiden Guhle is out with a groin injury and isn't expected back until at least October 23. That's not a small gap on the back end.

Lane Hutson put up 78 points last season and looks like the clear number one now. Noah Dobson chipped in 47 points of his own after arriving in Montreal.

Michael Matheson added 37 points and Alexandre Carrier logged real minutes too. Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj round out a group that's more crowded than most.

Guhle's groin injury opens a door St-Louis isn't walking through yet

That's the tension nobody's really addressing. A regular is out for weeks, and the org's top defense prospect is still logging AHL reps in Laval instead of taking the opening.

St-Louis framed it as patience, not punishment. "For him, it's just to keep knocking on the door and keep pushing," he said.

It's the kind of quote that sounds supportive on the surface. But it also reads like a coach buying time before he has to make a real decision.

Reinbacher isn't hurt, isn't struggling, and isn't buried on talent. He's just waiting behind bodies that, for now, are ahead of him on paper.

St-Louis closed with the line every prospect wants to hear and dreads at the same time. "He has all the tools and he's going to keep pushing."

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The tools aren't the question anymore. The runway is. And with Guhle's return date still weeks away, Montreal's coaching staff is about to find out how patient they really want to be.

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