The Oilers have been devastated by injury to the point where Griffin Reinhart had to be recalled before he probably should have been. He wasn’t sent down because of poor play so much as out of necessity, but his play in the AHL hasn’t exactly instilled a lot of confidence.
There have been various reports that Reinhart flip-flops between looking good one game and completely ordinary the next. The belief is that the team has wanted him to impose himself on the game more often than he has, but it’s a work in progress with Griffin. Frankly, I’m not convinced that’s the kind of player he’s going to be. Nurse is going to a dynamic player if everything breaks his way. From everything I’ve seen, Reinhart is going to be the kind of player who slows the game down and keeps things cool if everything breaks his way.
That’s not a negative, that’s just the way he plays the game.
The biggest problem for Griffin Reinhart in Edmonton was that the Oilers gave up a very good asset (16th Overall pick) to get him. That pick in a reportedly very deep draft had a lot of value. I personally believe the Oilers were targeting Evgeny Svechnikov at 16th, but the Islanders selected Mathew Barzal. Barzal had talent to spare but he is another highly skilled (but slight) center that the Oilers likely felt they had a lot of.
In any event, Grifffin Reinhart is running a hypothetical race against Barzal and Svechnikov. In order for that deal to have any semblance of value for the Oilers down the road, Gryba has to be capable of competently playing in the top 4 at some point. In order to win it outright he has to be a better NHLer than either of those two kids.
Svechnikov eventually went 19th overall to the Red Wings. He’s a 6’2… 200 lb LW playing in the QMJHL. He has 31GP, 18-28-47 so far this season. In the Oilers system he would be the skilled size down the wing the team has always coveted. There would have been a lot of excitement about the future of this kid as someone who can change the makeup of the forwards. Of course, if the Oil wanted to give him a real shot they would likely need to move bodies out.
Barzal is the player that most people will associate with Reinhart and the Oilers since he was the player taken with that pick. So far, he looks like a keeper for the Islanders. He has the rough body-type of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, so he isn’t going to be a bruiser, but boy can this kid play. He has 33GP, 13-40-53 with the Seattle Thunderbirds and was a player for Team Canada at the WJC.
Reinhart is 22 years old tomorrow and has been able to play 3rd pairing minutes in the NHL. He isn’t a dead in the water prospect. However, his ceiling doesn’t seem as lofty today as it once did when the Islanders made him a 4th Overall pick. I hope he proves that conclusion dead wrong, personally. I’m just not comfortable saying with confidence that he will.
LINEUP
Rostermageddon continues as Brandon Davidson was forced onto the IR after sustaining an injury…somehow. Reinhart was recalled but at this rate he wont be lasting any longer than Spinal Tap’s latest drummer. McDavid is healthy by the Oilers have been set on the Feb 2nd date so here we sit.
Hall-Draisaitl-Purcell Yakupov-Pouliot-Eberle Kassian-Letestu-Pakarinen Hendricks-Lander-Korpikoski
Sekera Fayne Nurse Schultz Reinhart Gryba
Talbot
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME 1) One More Game. This one is all about survival. It’s about making it to this extended All-Star break so that the team has a half-decent shot at getting a little healthy. The Oilers will have an incredible 9 days between this game and the next. During next week the plan is for the club not to even practice. Klefbom needs all the time he can get recuperating from a staph infection. Brandon Davidson needs that week to…whatever the whatever that is whatevered. And on February 2nd McDavid is scheduled to return. One more game.
2) RyJo. The Ryan Johansen trade was the biggest deal to hit the NHL this season. It was a hockey deal, it involved high profile young players, it had a bit of everything. From the moment the deal went down I believed that Nashville won hands down and nothing has changed to make me think otherwise. Ryan Johansen has 9 points in 7 games with the Preds and playing 19.5 minutes a night. I think it would be a mistake to give him time and space tonight, but with a depleted blueline and no center depth it is going to be one hell of an assignment to keep him off the scoreboard. 3) Yak City. Nail Yakupov has been Edmonton’s best skater at least twice (thrice by my eye) in the 5 games since he’s been back. In those 5 games, he has had the best possession numbers among the forwards in 4 of them. There is a lot to like about the way Yakupov has been playing, even if he’s always on the edge of being demoted. There isn’t a lot of leash for Yak, but it’s getting harder and harder to justify why. Yak has a Corsi For above 50% for the first time in his career and he still has the 4th highest points per 60 minutes on the team (min 300 mins). Good things are happening when Yak is on the ice.
Puck drops tonight at 8PM Mountain Time on Hockey Night in Canada. Get Better, Connor! Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy