The Griffin Reinhart trade might just be the Edmonton Oilers’ biggest mistake of the Connor McDavid era. It’s a move that still haunts the team’s fans today.
Back in 2015, the Oilers thought they were being clever. They traded away two valuable draft picks to grab Reinhart, a former fourth-overall pick who’d been a star with the local Edmonton Oil Kings. The team was convinced they’d found their future top-four defenseman.
They were wrong. Really wrong.
Reinhart played just 29 games in an Oilers uniform before disappearing into NHL obscurity. The Vegas Golden Knights eventually claimed him in the 2017 expansion draft, but he never stuck around there either.
What makes this trade particularly painful isn’t just what the Oilers got – it’s what they gave up.
Edmonton handed over both their first- and second-round picks in that 2015 draft to the New York Islanders. Those picks could’ve landed them some serious talent that was still available.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. The 2015 draft turned out to be loaded with future stars, and the Oilers had just won the lottery to draft Connor McDavid first overall. This was their chance to build around a generational talent.
Instead, they bet everything on Reinhart.
Looking back, it’s almost hard to believe. The local kid who’d captained the Oil Kings seemed like a safe bet. He’d dominated the WHL and looked like he couldn’t miss.
But sometimes the safest bets turn out to be the riskiest ones.
The real kicker? Not many other teams even saw Reinhart as a can’t-miss prospect at that point. The Oilers were basically bidding against themselves.
