From 4th Overall To China - The Griffin Reinhart Story 

Traded for Matt Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier. Thanks, Charelli

The Islanders also got Anthony Beauviller

Worst part of the whole thing for him is having to watch his little brother out-do him in the show...

Thank you for the excellent report on Reinhardt. It shows how hard it is for a player to make it to the NHL !!

These videos are well made and go on detail. Love these kinda videos

He does have a cool name though.

Honestly, watching him on TV and in person, I felt he never went to a team that could use him right. I felt people wanted him to score over playing defense which might have gotten to him mentally. He seemed to have tried to do both which kinda just blew up on him. But he also tried to chirp me a few times when he was on the Wolves. Guess he might have also had too much focus on the stands vs the ice sometimes.

Great video! Idea for a series: NHL family stories. Folignos, Domis, Sedins, Etc. Etc.

Congratulations on your 25000 subscribers. Thinking about joining your Patreon. Your videos are informative, simple to understand, some humour thrown in as well, and honestly something I’ve always wondered with a lot of these players. Keep them coming. This is definitely one of my top 3 hockey channels for years to come.

Oilers fan here. I feared this day would come... 😭

As an islanders fan, thank you for Barzal

Can I say that after I watched him play his 1st game in the NHL I said trade him as he will never be able to make it. Family thought I was crazy.

Don't only give shots, points and offensive stats when talking about a DEFENSEMANs season. That's not all that matters. You do this over and over again.

Turns out, he never really had the makings of a varsity athlete.

As an islanders fan I was actually pissed off that he was traded at the time, but Garth Snow made a 1000 IQ move by getting Barzal and Beau

Not everyone can make it in the big league.. One thing I've noticed over the years is even if you're first round pick in a draft, doesn't mean you're gonna be a superstar.. Some people do really well in the AHL, but can't make it in the NHL for whatever reason

A plus/minus of -5 over 37 games isn't necessarily that bad depending on the team averages in those seasons. but, yes he should have had more points.

Flipping reinhart for the picks of Barzal and Beauvillier, was the lone trade you could acredit that 3rd round appearance to.

The KHL is a better league than the others you mentioned, despite him playing for Kunlun. You make it seem like he couldn't have gotten into the other leagues.

When you don’t mention the hall of famer Steve Yzerman 👀

With the 2012 4th overall pick, the Islanders could’ve chose a defenseman like Morgan Reilly, Hampus Lindholm, Matt Dumba, Derrick Pouliot, or Jacob Trouba.

I feel for the guy man. When we drafted him I was hyped to see him make the NHL.

As a long time NY Islander fan, I remember being excited with the Griffin Reinhart pick. A big, offensively talented D-man with huge upside. When he got traded to the Oilers, my first thought was, "great, now he will blossom with the hated Edmonton Oilers." But, what do you know, the trade really worked out great for the Isles. Barzal AND Beauvillier are two young, talented forwards that help lead the Isles to the Semi-finals in the NHL playoffs this season. Yep, the trade worked out just fine.

I live in London Ontario, and got to see him play and lose the Memorial Cup finals to the Storm of the OHL.

Sam Bennett in my mind was a bust till this years playoffs. Since he played his 1st game I thought he wasn't worthy of being our highest pick ever.

"How Wevah..."

Womp womp wommmp I know a guy who was a goalie and played only 1 period of hockey in the nhl........never got to play again and went overseas for a few years. He sells insurance now ;/

UPDATE: He retired from professional hockey June 5th, 2022. **edit** at the age of 28.

You should do a video on the Lewiston MAINEiacs, pretty interesting story for the qmjhl team in America

8:08 this first round pick ended up to be Mat Barzal

What happened to Reinhart was it cause the oil kings inflated his value? (That whole team didn’t garner many NHL regulars at an elite level)

Fuck it man , make hof players documentaries like this 🥂

I met griffin after he won the memorial cup, one of the guys I went to school his older brother played with griffin on the oil kings, the guy I went to school with recently got drafted by the rangers in the 2nd round 49th overall

well, that was one disappointing pick eh?

Played against him in a u16 tournament back in the day even then I wasn’t overly impressed with him he just towered over everyone, maybe would have been more useful if he played in the show 15 years ago.

Auston Matthews won the Calder trophy in 2016/17. Barzal won the next season in 2017/18

kid could never skate. I think teams are going to put a much bigger focus on kids that have elite skating skills

How about a "What happened to Josh Ho-Sang." Vid? From the OHL (Kingston, London, Niagara) to the AHL (Bridgeport) and, eventually, being called up the the NY Islanders only to miss practice. Plus fans getting pissy that he wore #66 when he did play for the Islanders.

Honestly people were shocked Islanders took him 4th it was seen as a huge Gamble. It was always going to be a sink or swim kinda career for him.

as an islanders fan i was rooting for reinhart bigtime and watched him like a hawk when he was up with the islanders. all 14-15 season he was just too slow and couldn't keep up, especially in the playoff game he played vs washington. there's one sequence from that game where i remember he just got completely lost in the D zone and kind of froze for a few seconds frantically looking around for who he was supposed to be covering. i felt bad for the guy. it's one thing if you can't physically keep up, but if you can't mentally keep up in the nhl you're toast. by the time the season was over most islanders fans had seen enough and written him off- so to have edmonton walk in and trade us the 15th and 32nd pick for him was highway robbery in every islanders fan's eyes

Just like to point out that 6'4" and 212 pounds is not actually "big" in the NHL. It's actually pretty light. I myself am (sometimes) about that size; I am about 6 3 and a half and 220. When I was in my 20s and spent four hours a day in a weight room I was about that weight but if you saw me with my shirt off you would have called me wiry, not "big". And even at that weight I never played as a "big" player. I bounced off the guys who were six foot tall and two hundred pounds. Let alone the guys who are six four and 250 pounds. 6'4" and 210 is a wiry tall guy. He would have had to add 20 poiunds to have been able to play as a bruising defenceman.

4th is a great pick. Because your not usually left with much of a choice. As the last of the best, has less pressure.

Look, I agree that he was a bust. But it is really important to keep in mind that Griffin didn't select himself as the 4th overall. It's not his fault that he was selected that high. So he shouldn't have to live up to the hype of being selected early. The disappointment should be directed towards the GM who really should know better than first waste a 4th overall pick and then trade it for another first round - and a second round - pick! My humble opinion...

He was so bad, he couldn't hold a spot on the 16-17 Oilers and an expansion team...enough said

Griffin Reinhardt was caught in the crossfire of the post lockout era of significant rules changes the league implemented. • The NHL placed renewed emphasis on enforcing hooking, holding and interference penalties. Along with the decision to eliminate the centre red line for two-line passes and the reduction of the neutral zone from 54 to 50 feet, it resulted in a significant increase in the speed with which the game was played.Thus, rendering slower defence-men obsolete • Indirectly, the cap world helped get hooking and holding out of the game because heavily outmatched teams with minuscule payrolls were no longer trying to do whatever they could to slow down highly skilled teams that were able to pay up to four times as much to players. Overnight the defence position became harder to play than ever because the crackdown on obstruction heightened the pace at which the game is played. It means that fore-checkers bearing down on defencemen come so fast that there's little time to make plays. • Prior to the trapezoid being introduced to restrict goaltenders' ability to assist their defencemen by handling the puck, the slower puck retrieving defencemen could post up 30-50 feet or more and receive the pass without having to skate back and wheel with the puck. • In the 10 year span from 2005-2015, the game has evolved so fast, and many players were negatively affected, and others were well positioned. 2011, Chicago wins Stanley Cup and a smaller Duncan Keith wins Norris Trophy and becomes the new standard for future NHL defenceman. Laterally mobililty, stick on puck, can not only stop defender with puck but can steal puck and transition offensively to become a 4th-forward (hybrid defenceman). Duncan Keith registers 60-80 hits in a full season. GMs and coaches took note and the trend was set. D-men minutes went through the roof because they weren’t expending the energy needed to play physical. • Take note that Reinhardt’s draft year was 2012. • Timing was not in his favour. He was big and lumbering. Fast in a straight line but the lateral agility and mobility were sub-par. Had he been drafted say 5 years earlier he might have been safe. It would have given him time to adjust his off-ice training etc. This all led to smaller quicker forwards like Barzal, and Hughes, Marchand, and of course d-men like Krug, Coyle, Quinn Hughes, and many others. Small area high traffic, evasive and highly skilled puck handlers and movers.

Cant believe Chia gave up so much for this bust.

Reinhart shouldn’t have gone top 10. As a more defensive defenceman he should’ve gone later. His lack of all-around talent was something teams willingly ignored because he’s big and can skate.

Good videos keep it up

And Morgan Riley would go right after him

An absolute bust pick by the islanders

Thank you Edmonton Oilers. 😊

There is a rumor that he had an undiagnosed medical problem I don’t want to post to hear on social media but it’s something that plagued him his entire career. This information was shared with me by a scout who freelancers from time to time East Coast West Coast but it was not very well known until recently about his issue

This guy is a massive bust, but not for the islanders.

The 2012 NHL Draft was pretty bad overall. The weakest of the 2010's.

As an oilers fan, this upsets me

Went to hockey school with him dude had a wicked slapshot

This just shows how difficult it is to be a pro hockey player in the NHL, KHL or major European leagues. Even among the players who are drafted, few ever play a single game in the NHL, and even fewer have any significant NHL career.

Guys like Reinhart strike me as players that were always big and tough and strong compared to their peers but once they step into the NHL or affiliates suddenly they aren't the big guy anymore and struggle to find a place. I have zero facts to compare this to but it was just an impression. When you see players excel like this when they are 15-17 and then start slowing down post draft, it's a bad sign. Also his place at #4 could also just be a HUGE scouting gaff.... just because he was drafted 4th doesn't mean he deserved to be there.

theres always a good brother bad brother dynamic. Unfortunately for the sabres we have the "good brother" and he still aint much to write home about lmao

MANY REASONS FOR A DRAFT BUST: - Lack of work ethic (e.g. Alexandre Daigle, Reinhart) - Bad character (e.g. Nail Yakupov) - Injuries (e.g. Patrik Stefan, Bryan Berard, Nolan Patrick, Rick DiPietro) - Poor team around him (e.g. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who was, and still is, an NHL regular) - Military draft (e.g. Alexander Svitov & Stanislav Chistov)

You never know for sure when it comes to the Draft. Successfully making the jump from Junior or College hockey to the NHL is not 100% certain. Reinhart is an example of a guy who "topped off" at the Major Junior level. After playing some games in the NHL and then getting sent down Reinhart's confidence started going down hill. Reinhart got all the chances in the NHL he did is because of his size.

As a rookie trying to make a team you would expect him to be throwing at least one big hit her. A big hit that would put many people on notice that he was here to stay

For anyone watching that doesn’t know, Reinhardt signed for iserlohn roosters of the DEL

Why are you judging a defenceman by offensive player? If you are a more offence minded individual it makes a lot of sense. However, it seems really counter-productive to judge him based off of scoring. Defenders structurally go under the radar, and are under appreciated in many offense-minded coach systems. The NHL wants to see sexiness and cool shots, not so much the fundamental put you on your ass style ice hockey that gets defenders praise. I mean you mentioned defensive stats which enable you to praise him, and it is not just you; leagues want forwards because of the structural nature of an offensive player. Defensive players don't put asses in seats, unless they do a bunch of shit modern leagues seem as illegal now.

Dude's playing top division beer league at ASHL Burnaby now, pretty insane drop-off. But at least he had a cup of coffee in the NHL.

There were red flags right away, his production fell 2 years in a row while he was an overager in juniors. Many players who fall off in production in 2+ years at the same level, either juniors or minors, usually means there’s some sort of issue with the player. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if his work ethic was just not there, since it seemed like he just never got better throughout the years.

What if he become a 15 time pro bowler. First he said 'fuck hockey I'm headed to the NFL'... then becomes a 15 time probowler 😏👍

As an Islanders fan I watched him in juniors after his draft. Was not at all impressed. So glad they were able to flip him, what a disaster that would have been.

His skating was not good. Could not keep up with speed of NHL game. Also questionable work ethic.

Sometimes I wonder what happens when Europeans try to use voice-to-text 😅 does anything end up spelled right?

Also doesn't help that he was bounced around like physical style defensemen need consistency to develop correctly

This guys biggest problem was being traded to Edmonton

he came to play his last professional year with my team in Northern Ireland for the Belfast Giants and was the center of our D-core was a first team all star and won 2/3 available trophies

Apparently he resigned with the Chinese KHL team

Finally the. Islanders didn't mess up in a trade can you say. Mil burry. Mike

So from what I gather from this video there are no qualifications to apply to the positions of GM, Head Scout or Scout for the Edmonton Oilers

Do a career of jere karalahti

I used to watch him in junior I was sure he was going to be a sure fire Norris candidate

Now he’s in teal with our giants!

He has the only game winning goal scored in the rain

Why didn't the Islanders draft Russian goaler Andrei Vasilevskiy, a future hall of famer instead of Mr. Reinhart?

This is my "My Career" mode all over again 😢

At least he got us Matt Barzal!

And then he ended up with the belfast giants and retired there

he now plays at my local team in the uk the Belfast Giants

Griffen is a really good player. The problem with him is that he thinks the game too slow. Everything else is elite..15 years ago he would have been fine.

Not just him... The whole brotherhood stanks

Funny how defence suck if they dont score but yet there defence players there not big on scoring there to defend the blue line

Guess it's time to move back home and play senior. I'm sure there's plenty of teams in BC/Alberta that'd pay him good money.

From one shitthole to another. Man, it’s rough

Im still ANGRY at the YOYO"S management Of Edmonton OILERS . And non of those IDIOTS were ever fired , on top of that they made many more fantastic trades like that . EDMONTON cant seem to get rid of all those ex oilers champions out of town ,so they still doing grate damage to young talented kids like McDavid and rest . Mister Kats PLEASE FIND COURAGE to kick all those yesterday Oilers stars out of that team .

You should do kris beech

As of yesterday Griffin Reinhart was confirmed playing for the Iserlohn Roosters of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga - DEL for the remainder of the ongoing season....For him it may be a good place to play and contribute....The host city of his new team is known for being the german version of "Hockeytown Detroit" as the franchise has a fanbase of which competitors say "they are visiting hell" when the schedule sends them on the road to play at the venue Eissporthalle Seilersee. I am following the NHL for more like 30 years now and always noticed how expectations from franchises, fans, media, etc. are literally crushing young, developing players when not living up to the high hopes everybody had on them. At the same time it looks, that most of the AHL teams are not capable or willing putting to much effort in the development of these players for being valuable contributors on the NHL level. And yes, you are too harsh. You want an big body, offensive D that crushes the boards, makes lots of open ice hits, scores in every game, not getting a minus-rating....in short, a healthy Chris Pronger or anything like that...Griffin Reinhart just is not what you're expecting

The worst 4th overall pick ever was Alexander Volchkov in 1996. He only played 3 NHL games.

This was a terrible draft year tbh

Big, strong defensive guy called Reinhar(d)t? Overwatch is about to give him a call.

As a Jr he was playing against 16-17 year olds & was a physical presence. In the NHL playing against mature men...he lost all that physicality..plus slow feet & questionable passing (He couldn't think the game at an NHL level) spelt the end of playing in the bigs.

he can play....seattle should sign him....excelled all along until nhl...i blame the coaches....coaches get fired trying to change the players style.......griffin can play.utilize him like the way he played that got him drafted....his minus was nothing..other teammates had even more minus.....he can play and dominate still....

Islanders drafted him at 4th overall, and it ended up being the best deal they've done in a long time. I can't see him ever returning to the NHL, he can have a successful pro career still, but time is ticking

This happens all the time. He was not oven the same chances as other rookie d-men. They expected too much of him too soon. Only 1 point in 9 NHL games at the start of a career is not terrible. Neither is a plus 1. He had barely met ice time but because they expected him to Stephen right away, they fucked his development over.