Montreal May Keep 2023 1st rounder out of North America due to Backlash

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TJ Tucker
June 30, 2023 (8:01)

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Montreal Canadiens Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton and General Managet Kent Hughes have had a relatively easy ride in their fairly new positions with the team so far. That all came crashing down earlier this week, though as many fans were not happy with the Habs first pick of the 2023 NHL draft, and are letting him know it through social media.

According to reports, David Reinbacher, chosen 5th overall by Montreal, is receiving hate messages by the thousands from fans who wanted to team to take someone else.

"Multiple Canadiens players have taken notice and have supported Reinbacher. In some instances, Reinbacher has been incomprehensibly compared to Adolf Hitler in messages since he is Austrian-born. It's gotten so bad that management is unlikely to bring him to North America this season to avoid further backlash. Backlash comes from most Canadiens fans disapproval of passing on Matvei Michkov, but David Reinbacher has received the brunt of the anger

H/T: Pierre LeBrun, Arpon Basu

- NHLBreakers

It goes even further than this. The Athletic recently quoted an anonymous source with Canadiens' management as saying this does not help when it comes to attracting players to play in the city.

"We're trying to make Montreal a place players want to play," he said, "and this stuff definitely doesn't help." - The Athletic

This certainly isn't a good look for Montreal. Players will always receive some backlash, but this enters the realm of ridiculousness.