Edmonton Oilers Players in Review: Griffin Reinhart

Today on Oil On Whyte, following Sammi’s review of Edmonton Oilers Captain Andrew Ference, is my take on another recent addition: Griffin Reinhart.

Potential

As I stated in my Cam Talbot Player Review, “potential” is a word that is becoming groan worthy when it comes to new acquisitions and Reinhart does fit that bill. Peter Chiarelli went to town on Draft Day 2015 trading all but one of the first six draft picks. Two of those draft picks, the 16th overall (which became Matthew Barzal) and the 33rd Overall Pick (later traded with the 72nd to Tampa Bay for the 28th pick which became Anthony Beauvillier) to the New York Islanders for Griffin Reinhart.

My reaction, like a majority of fans, was immediately this was not a trade in favour for the Edmonton Oilers. They paid too much for an unproven player. I thought that with a package like that, the Oilers could have acquired someone more proven and was a seasoned veteran. I also thought that the second round draft pick would cost us Cam Talbot. I was luckily wrong in that regard.

While I did not like the trade that did not mean I did not like the player. I am a big Edmonton Oil King fan and Griffin Reinhart was the captain of our Memorial Cup Winning 2013-2014 Edition of the Team. He was just solid all around at a junior level: you did not notice him making mistakes. In 2012-2013 he was injured during the playoffs and he was a main reason why the Oil Kings did not complete the three peat Memorial Cup Appearances.

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With the trade there are some things we need to move on from when judging Mr. Reinhart:

1) The obsession of Draft Picks. I think there is an overvalue of draft picks, deep draft or not. Barzal and Beauvillier could turn out to be great picks but they are two-three years away from the NHL. Griffin Reinhart is closer to the show than both of them. While it was an overpay, I will not deny that, it is not fair to the player to condemn him for the trade itself. There’s potential in Reinhart. He was drafted 4th overall in 2012 for a reason.

2) Unfair comparisons. Twitter made this trade seem like the end of the world. Some were calling for Chiarelli’s head after a single trade. Some were comparing Reinhart to being a draft bust and a Hal Gill skating comparison. These were blown way out of proportion. I’m guessing a majority of people (myself included) did not watch a single game of Reinhart in the AHL last year. It was his first ever professional season. He’s 21. There’s a lot in the tank for the kid to develop. We should be excited to see how he pans out.

Why did he get traded?

When Garth Snow acquired Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk early last season, it pushed Reinhart into the minors. Reinhart only played 8 games in the NHL last year as an injury call up. There were rumblings that Scott Mayfield, a 2011 draft pick, moved ahead of Reinhart. With a stable of Defensemen, Reinhart became expendable for the Islanders.

Potential wise: Reinhart is young. He has draft pedigree. He was a major cog for a mini dynasty in the WHL. Chiarelli has him pinned playing third pairing minutes, which I think would be great as he would not be tossed into the fire right away, barring if he can beat Darnell Nurse at camp.

Performance

I did not see Reinhart once last season in the AHL and can only go by the stat line. On a poor Bridgeport team he posted this statline:

GP: 59 G: 7 A: 15 P:22 +/-: -13

For a Defensive Defenseman, that is not terrible numbers. I do not really put too much stock in Plus/Minus, but Bridgeport was not a good team last year.

Projections

It’s tough with young defenseman to project their stat totals. If he plays in the NHL, I think:

GP:70 G:2 A:8 P:10

It’s a conservative guess. Either way, I’m rooting for you Big Cat.

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