Ex-Oiler Reinhart May Be the Most Expensive Non-NHL Player Ever

Griffin Reinhart last played professionally in 2019-20 with Beijing’s Kunlun Red Star in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). That’s a long way from being drafted 4^th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Many high draft choices have had fizzling trajectories, but have any been as expensive as Reinhart?

A Sky So Blue, You Have to Wear Shades

Reinhart was a storied junior hockey player. In five years with the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Edmonton Oil Kings (2009-10 to 2013-14), he scored 111 points in 209 games as a defenceman. He was a plus player each of those years and added another 28 points in 57 playoff games.

In 2012, he was named captain of the Oil Kings. In 2014, he made the WHL East Second All-Star Team, was named WHL Playoff MVP, and won the Memorial Cup – the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) championship — with the Oil Kings. In both 2012 and 2014, his Oil Kings won the Ed Chynoweth Cup as WHL playoff champions. In 2012, he was chosen to play for Team Orr in the CHL Top Prospects Game.

Internationally, he had similar success. In 2011, he scored seven points in six games for the Canada Pacific team in the World Under 17 Hockey Challenge. In 2012, he made the Canadian team for the International Under-18 hockey tournament. He followed that up by making the Team Canada Under-20 World Junior Championship team in both 2013 and 2014, scoring three points in nine games. He also played in the 2012 and 2013 CHL Canada-Russia series.

Elite Prospects called him, “A large defenseman with solid skills at both ends of the ice. A strong player  …  Defensively sound. Gives a good first pass and skates well considering his large frame … is capable of handling big minutes.”

Draft Site raved about him:

“Huge player with huge upside. A big man who skates exceptionally well and has turns. Moves laterally with the fluidity of an average size player. Very cool under pressure and a very good ice general whose vision allows him to make the right play. Rarely beaten one on one due to his size. He has a strong shot from the point and is excellent at reading where to go with the puck. Can pass the puck on offense better than most. His bread and butter is his ability to move the puck up ice using his speed and accurate passing. He uses his size to be an aggressive physical force in his defensive zone … filled with upside.”

My NHL Draft agreed:

“The sky is the limit for 2012 NHL Draft prospect Griffin Reinhart. This six-foot four, two-hundred-pound blueliner from the Edmonton Oil Kings has all the tools needed to have a successful pro career … Griffin thinks that one of his strong points is his shot … but scouts will also tell you that his mobility on the ice is another strength. Reinhart likes to think that he could be the next Shea Weber, and at this rate there is certainly a possibility that he could be just that.”

The Rubber Hits the Road

How much of that promise did Reinhart turn into reality? Enough to play 37 NHL games and score two assists. He added 81 more points in 278 American Hockey League games. In 33 Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)  games, he managed just two more assists.

Related: Worst Trades in Oilers History

That’s not nearly enough production from a 4^th overall pick. By any measure, he was a failure. Reinhart wasn’t the only 2012 Draft disaster, however. In case we forget, Nail Yakupov, considered one of the all-time worst 1^st overall draft picks, was also taken in 2012.

Quant Hockey has the NHL statistics for the three players chosen ahead of Reinhart in 2012:

No.	Name	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
1	Nail Yakupov	Edmonton Oilers	F	350	62	74	136	142	-89
2	Ryan Murray	Columbus Blue Jackets	D	347	15	95	110	104	13
3	Alex Galchenyuk	Montreal Canadiens	F	549	135	185	320	201	-58

In contrast, here are Reinhart’s career NHL totals:

No.	Name	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
4	Griffin Reinhart	New York Islanders	D	37	0	2	2	26	-5

Here are the NHL career totals for the rest of players taken in the 1^st Round after Reinhart:

No.	Name	Team	Pos	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-
5	Morgan Rielly	Toronto Maple Leafs	D	517	54	216	270	127	-40
6	Hampus Lindholm	Anaheim Ducks	D	502	50	143	193	256	75
7	Mathew Dumba	Minnesota Wild	D	411	62	112	174	225	27
8	Derrick Pouliot	Pittsburgh Penguins	D	202	8	40	48	81	-35
9	Jacob Trouba	Winnipeg Jets	D	478	49	157	206	358	25
10	Slater Koekkoek	Tampa Bay Lightning	D	149	7	22	29	86	6
11	Filip Forsberg	Washington Capitals	F	458	167	186	353	200	27
12	Mikhail Grigorenko	Buffalo Sabres	F	217	22	42	64	30	-26
13	Radek Faksa	Dallas Stars	F	351	60	68	128	215	15
14	Zemgus Girgensons	Buffalo Sabres	F	489	61	77	138	130	-53
15	Cody Ceci	Ottawa Senators	D	496	33	93	126	108	-53
16	Tom Wilson	Washington Capitals	F	522	78	110	188	1027	30
17	Tomas Hertl	San Jose Sharks	F	453	132	148	280	135	-1
18	Teuvo Teräväinen	Chicago Blackhawks	F	428	91	198	289	72	54
20	Scott Laughton	Philadelphia Flyers	F	321	44	62	106	172	-11
21	Mark Jankowski	Calgary Flames	F	208	36	28	64	59	-13
22	Olli Määttä	Pittsburgh Penguins	D	427	29	95	124	118	61
23	Michael Matheson	Florida Panthers	D	299	33	58	91	157	-30
25	Jordan Schmaltz	St. Louis Blues	D	42	0	5	5	12	-7
26	Brendan Gaunce	Vancouver Canucks	F	118	6	10	16	47	-7
27	Henrik Samuelsson	Phoenix Coyotes	F	3	0	0	0	2	-2
28	Brady Skjei	New York Rangers	D	314	25	88	113	174	-29
29	Stefan Matteau	New Jersey Devils	F	73	5	5	10	32	-14
30	Tanner Pearson	Los Angeles Kings	F	457	108	107	215	132	24

There were also two goalies chosen:

No.	Name	Born	Team	Pos	GP	W-L	SV%	GAA
19	Andrei Vasilevski	1994	Tampa Bay Lightning	G	260	159-73	.919	2.55
24	Malcolm Subban	1993	Boston Bruins	G	66	30-22	.899	2.97

An awful lot of good hockey players were chosen after Reinhart. There are probably only three other players in the first round who have performed as badly. Given a “do-over,” the Islanders would probably take a chance on any of the other 29 over Reinhart.

Fair Market Value

What kind of performance should a team expect from a 4^th overall draft pick? Here’s a list of comparables in the past decade.

YEAR	4th-OVERALL PICK	TEAM	POSITION	GAMES PLAYED	GOALS	ASSISTS	POINTS	PIM
2010	Ryan Johansen	Columbus Blue Jackets	C	660	144	298	442	405
2011	Adam Larsson	New Jersey Devils	D	547	21	106	127	323
2012	Griffin Reinhart	NY Islanders	D	37	0	0	2	26
2013	Seth Jones	Nashville Predators	D	524	60	198	258	168
2014	Sam Bennett	Calgary Flames	C	364	63	65	128	300
2015	Mitch Marner	Toronto Maple Leafs	R	300	83	208	291	102
2016	Jesse Puljujarvi	Edmonton Oilers	R	139	17	20	37	40
2017	Cale Makar	Colorado Avalanche	D	57	12	38	50	12
2018	Brady Tkachuk	Ottawa Senators	L	142	43	46	89	181
2019	Bowen Byram	Colorado Avalanche	D	–	–	–	–	–
2020	Lucas Raymond	Detroit Red Wings	L	–	–	–	–	–

But Wait, There’s More!

How much would you pay for a 4^th overall pick like Reinhart? Like in the K-Tel record and Ginsu knife commercials, wait, there’s more. Sometimes, good players need a new environment to reach their potential and sometimes, instead, they’re singled out by former Edmonton Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli.

At the 2015 Entry Draft, Chiarelli traded his team’s 16th and 33rd overall picks to the Islanders for Reinhart. Those picks turned into Mathew Barzal and Mitchell Stevens.

YEAR	PLAYER	PICK	TEAM	POSITION	GAMES PLAYED	GOALS	ASSISTS	POINTS	PIM
2015	Mathew Barzal	16	NY Islanders	C	234	59	148	207	126
2015	Mitchell Stephens	33	Tampa Bay Lightning	C	38	3	3	6	10

In 29 games with the Oilers in 2015-16, Reinhart managed just one assist. He was headed out of town only slightly ahead of Chiarelli.

It Gets Even Worse

When the Vegas Golden Knights joined the NHL in 2017-18, each NHL team submitted a list of players they wanted to protect in the expansion draft and those which were available. The Golden Knights managed the draft so well that they went to the Stanley Cup Final in their first year of operation. Choosing Reinhart from the Oilers’ roster was the exception to that excellence.

The Oilers protected Leon Draisaitl (F), Jordan Eberle (F), Zack Kassian (F), Mark Letestu (F), Milan Lucic (F), Patrick Maroon (F), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (F), Oscar Klefbom (D), Adam Larsson (D), Andrej Sekera (D), and Cam Talbot (G).

Left unprotected and available to the Golden Knights were David Desharnais (F), Justin Fontaine (F), Matt Hendricks (F), Roman Horak (F), Jujhar Khaira (F), Anton Lander (F), Iiro Pakarinen (F), Tyler Pitlick (F), Zach Pochiro (F), Benoit Pouliot (F), Henrik Samuelsson (F), Bogdan Yakimov (F), Mark Fayne (D), Andrew Ference (D), Mark Fraser (D), Eric Gryba (D), David Musil (D), Jordan Oesterle (D), Griffin Reinhart (D), Kris Russell (D), Dillon Simpson (D), Laurent Brossoit (G), and Jonas Gustavsson (G).

Doing the Oilers, but not themselves, a favour, the Golden Knights chose Reinhart. Any of Hendricks, Khaira, Pitlick, Oesterle, Russell or Brossoit would have been better choices. Reinhart never played for the expansion team, but was sent to their minor-league affiliate Chicago Wolves where, in 135 games, he put up 28 points over two seasons. In 2019-20, he signed with the KHL Kunlun Red Star in Beijing, managing just two assists in 33 games.

Reinhart’s Final Cost

Between them, the Islanders and Oilers spent a 4^th overall pick, a 16^th overall pick and a 33^rd overall pick to acquire Reinhart while the Golden Knights passed up the entire bottom half of the Oilers’ roster for a player who managed two NHL career points. Has any other player in the salary-cap era cost so much in assets for so little production? Or am I missing someone?

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