With the Edmonton Oilers season winding down and only three games left, the team’s in the same old spot: near the basement of the league.

The team keeps losing. The team is not good enough. There are moves that need to be made.

However, and maybe I’m an optimist, but I think Peter Chiarelli will work out well in Edmonton. Now nearing one year in, I think we can assess the moves that Peter Chiarelli made, which is the point of this series. I will be looking at the acquisitions on the day of and the impact of the players resulting from the transactions.

The grading system is pretty simple: A is great, C is mediocre/average, F is fail (just like your school report cards – I’m a teacher. DEAL WITH IT!). I also want to note I won’t be delving too much into the trade deadline acquisitions. I wrote about them over here at this link on the day of the deadline, so I won’t be rehashing too much here. In this post, I will be looking at Chiarelli’s first big move: The Griffin Reinhart Trade.

Griffin Reinhart Trade

I know on that draft day, I was losing my mind that the Boston Bruins passed on Barzal. I was yelling at my TV how idiotic they were. What are you doing Sweeney!? Thanks for the gift!

We have a trade to announce.

WHAT NO?!!? NO. BARZAL IS SKILLED.

The Oilers trade the 16th overall pick and the 33rd overall pick to the New York Islanders for Griffin Reinhart.

My exact words:

That was it. Peter Chiarelli made his first trade: Griffin Reinhart, former 4th overall pick in 2012, was acquired for the 16th overall pick in 2016 and the 33rd pick in 2016.

That’s an overpayment and a half for a player who has not been developing in a completely linear fashion. Just check some of the reviews for Garth Snow for the trade from the Cult of Hockey. The 16th overall pick became Mathew Barzal and the 33rd pick became the 28th pick with a trade via Tampa Bay that became Antony Beauvillier.

Some other reactions from Twitter:

https://twitter.com/patcano965/status/614615247698030593

https://twitter.com/NateInVegas/status/614605680536752128

https://twitter.com/81COBEosauce/status/614604339844243456

Why was Reinhart Dealt?

Before I start, I have a confession to make: I’m a fan of Griffin Reinhart. I’m biased. He’s a former Oil Kings captain and was a huge part of the glory years of the franchise, including two Memorial Cup appearances and one Memorial Cup championship. I was able to watch him relatively close because I often went to Oil Kings games. I am biased in this assessment because I like the player.

That said, it was an overpayment. Reinhart had fallen out of favor in the New York Islanders organization. As a former 4th overall pick, he was passed by other more recent draft picks such as Ryan Pulock (drafted 15th overall in 2013) and Adam Pelech (Drafted in 2012, but 65th overall.) What also hurt Reinhart were the acquisitions of Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk for relatively low prices. It pushed Reinhart deeper on the depth chart.

It was also worth mentioning that last season was Griffin Reinhart’s first professional season where he played 59 games.

Why did the Oilers acquire him? Probably to help bolster an organizational need: defence prospects. He joined Oscar Klefbom and Darnell Nurse as the most promising defencemen that the Oilers had (Mind you I did not mention Davidson because at this point on June 26th, he was a bit of an after thought)

Reinhart this season

Reinhart did not help to prove his detractors wrong. Reinhart initially started on the team but struggled while being paired with Eric Gryba. He would spend a stint in the AHL where he did not receive rave reviews as pointed out from Scott Zerr from Oilersnation back in February:

Griffin Reinhart – not once has he had a game where you’d be convinced he’s ready for consistent NHL work. His lack of dominance at this level is very unnerving. If he doesn’t put something together after the all-star break, more in-depth concerns will emerge.

Ouch. That is a very rough review for someone that was already brought in via a very high price tag. It also did not help that Mathew Barzal had a nice stint with Team Canada during the World Juniors. It also did not help that Barzal had 88 points in his first season after the draft with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

That said, Reinhart was recalled again late in the season due to injuries and he looked far more impressive than from the beginning. Our own WheatnOil looked at zone entries from the opposition and came with this revealation via Reinhart:

• Fayne and Reinhart have not been in Sekera territory in the small sample of games I’ve measured, but they do show their strength in preventing zone entries. When combined with the Zone Exit data, Reinhart looks like a fairly balanced defenceman… preventing zone entries at Fayne levels but with the ability to move the puck

That’s something the Oilers are desperately been striving for: a balanced defenceman. One that could eventually play in the top four. Reinhart could be that player (obviously would need a larger sample size).

The Grade

The price was a dear one to pay for a defenceman who is not fully developed. I know I am not alone in wanting an established defenceman for a first round draft pick. What’s done is done. Reinhart will be linked (unfairly I think) to Mathew Barzal. There’s still lots of time for Reinhart: he is only 22 but there are concerns especially when compared to his other draft class members such as Hampus Lindholm, Morgan Rielly, Jacob Trouba, Mathew Dumba and Olli Maata who have all been NHL regulars at some point now.

Final Grade = C

It’s still too early to say who will win this trade (Barzal and Beaulivier are both far away from the NHL) but it was a steep price for a defenceman who’s not fully developed. Combined with the fact that Reinhart has struggled at times, it’s difficult to give a higher grade.