Ex-New York Islanders’ defenseman Griffin Reinhart, 28, announced his retirement on Saturday, June 4. He may have only recorded a single point during his time with the Islanders, but his contributions went much further than that.

The Islanders drafted Reinhart with the fourth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. The next three draft picks were defensemen Morgan Reilly, Hampus Lindholm and Matt Dumba, all of whom have had very successful careers. Other first-rounders from 2012 the Islanders passed up on include Filip Forsberg, Tomas Hertl, Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Reinhart had 36 points in 58 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings before being drafted. In his next two seasons, Reinhart seemed to regress, recording 29 points in 2012-13 and 21 points in 2013-14.

The Islanders gave Reinhart his first contract in 2014, where he spent most of his first season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He had 22 points in his first 59 AHL games. He also played eight games for the Islanders, where he picked up an assist.

After the Islanders drafted him, Reinhart’s potential plummeted. However, the Oilers must have still seen a lot in Reinhart.

They traded the Islanders the 16th and 33rd overall picks in the 2015 NHL Draft for Reinhart. In probably the best trade ever made by former general manager Garth Snow during his tenure, the Islanders made sure not to mess up these picks again. With the 16th pick, the Islanders drafted Mathew Barzal from the Seattle Thunderbirds. They traded the 33rd pick and their third-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning to move up to the 28th pick, where the Isles selected Anthony Beauvillier.

The trade even worked out for the Lightning. They used the 72nd overall pick acquired from the Islanders to select Anthony Cirelli. Everybody won except the Oilers.

In his rookie season in 2017-18, Barzal scored 85 points, which was tied for 13th most in the league. He took home the Calder Memorial Trophy. Beauvillier went to the NHL a year earlier than Barzal and also has been a great forward for the organization. He currently has 93 goals and 96 assists for 189 total points in 408 games with the Islanders. 

Reinhart, on the other hand, couldn’t be revived by the Oilers — as they hoped. He only played for the organization for two seasons. He played 29 games for the Oilers in his first season there, once again totaling just one assist. His second year was spent entirely with the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL, excluding one Oilers’ playoff game.

His career continued to go downhill, as he was the expansion pick for the Vegas Golden Knights from the Oilers, and he spent the majority of the year from the Chicago Wolves. He had a total of 28 points in 135 games over two seasons with the Wolves. Reinhart proceeded to spend the next three years in three different countries.

He went to Beijing, China to play for HC Kunlun Red Star, the only KHL team based in China. He had two points in 33 games during the 2019-20 season. Then he went to Germany, where he played for the Iserlohn Roosters of the DEL, and had 11 points in 22 games. This past year, he went to the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) to play for the Belfast Giants of the EIHL. He was solid offensively in lower-level competition with 32 points in 53 games. His Giants had the best record in the league but lost in the finals to the Cardiff Devils.

Meanwhile, Barzal and Beauviller have been key pieces to the Islanders’ success, especially in their three recent postseason runs. Between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons, the Islanders have won six playoff series (including the 2020 playoff series victory against the Florida Panthers).

Barzal has been top-three in scoring on the Islanders during all three runs, including leading the team with 14 points in the 2021 postseason. Beauvillier has been good, too, and has arguably the most memorable goal in Islanders’ recent playoff history.

His overtime-winning goal — the last goal ever scored in the Nassau Coliseum — in Game 6 of the 2021 final four miraculously forced a Game 7, where the Islanders just nearly missed a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

So, Reinhart may have not panned out with the Islanders, but thanks to Snow, his impacts will remain with the team for a long, long time.

Ben Kule

Die-Hard Islanders fan and writer from Plainview, Long Island, NY. I have a passion and knowledge for this team and I enjoy sharing that with others