I've always been underwhelmed by the guy's skating. Maybe I haven't seen him at his best but I've never really seen him as a top paring guy, IMO more likely a solid second pairing guy.
I saw him drop the mitts in a game last season and in the viewing I had of him on Sunday he stepped up and SMOKED someone at the blueline on his first shift.
He isn't afraid to do stuff like that, it just doesn't happen enough for my liking.
I'd agree with that.
'No mean streak' is probably a better way to phrase it ... he'll finish his checks, and because he's so big/strong occasionally will finish them very hard, but doesn't have any sort of nasty streak. The fight you saw was pretty rare ... he's had what, 2 all together?
If he gets a bit more physical and maxes out his offensive potential, he might have Seabrook-type upside.
I'm not familiar enough with the Euros in this draft to say whether he is/isn't a top-10 pick, but I've definitely seen WHL defenders I've considered to be worse prospects go in the top 10. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go very high as he's a very safe bet to be a core player for an NHL team.
I've always been underwhelmed by the guy's skating. Maybe I haven't seen him at his best but I've never really seen him as a top paring guy, IMO more likely a solid second pairing guy.
I find it so difficult to tell with guys his size, their skating stride, muscle development, and time with NHL caliber skating coaches can change skating so much these days.
IMO look at Matt Frattin, sorry if this is OT, but almost all of Leafs Nation was under the impression that it was a problem with him, but hes struggling with other things, not the skating.
IMO, skating is incredibly important in today's NHL, but I think scouts are really looking for the mechanics because otherwise they can work on skating so much. And from what ive read and seen, Griffin's seems to be decent mechanically.
Having said that, with a name like griffin he needs to get his mean streak going if its in him. Such a great hockey name haha!
If you ever saw Jay Bouwmeester gliding up the ice for Med Hat with that breathtaking skating, they are nowhere near the same. I like the Eric Brewer one a lot.
This guy will make the NHL though, eventually. Just so big and while he's never going to be rushing it end-to-end, his skating isn't going to hold him back.
One thing that Reinhart has over Brewer is he isn't reluctant to shoot the puck. Brewer was pretty shy about shooting the puck which really stymied his potential. Reinhart has a bomb and has more offensive potential because of it.
Never seen him play, but from what people are saying it sounds a lot like Braydon Coburn. Big,not overly physical. From what I remember Coburn was taken ahead of a guy like Dion Phaneuf for his potential. Early in his NHL career he played a more offensive role and put up decent points (9 goals, 36 points). Now he's settled into a defensive role. Coburn is however a pretty good skater for a man his size.
Never seen him play, but from what people are saying it sounds a lot like Braydon Coburn. Big,not overly physical. From what I remember Coburn was taken ahead of a guy like Dion Phaneuf for his potential. Early in his NHL career he played a more offensive role and put up decent points (9 goals, 36 points). Now he's settled into a defensive role. Coburn is however a pretty good skater for a man his size.
Reinhart is a better skater than Coburn, and it was still an area that he struggled in at the start of this year.
Some had him really high at the start of the year. I think he slipped in the midterms and in a couple mocks he has been as low as 15 or 16 I think. Don't know a whole lot about him as I don't see the west much but maybe still a 8-12 pick if he has a strong end of year.
Son of former NHLer Paul Reinhart (best known as a Flame) and brother to Max and Sam, who play in the WHL.
Max was a Flames 3rd rounder a couple of years ago and has looked solid in the WHL. Sam should be a fairly high pick (1st rounder) in his draft year.
The other two brothers are forwards. They have a shot to be the next Staals.
As others said, Griffin was projected to go high in the first round this year, but has fallen down the charts a bit. He hasn't been horrible, but he also hasn't been great.
Reinharts main attribute (above others in this draft) is his size. And big D oriented D men especially take extra time to develop. I think to a large extent he has fallen off not because of his long term potential so much as many of the other smaller more mobile offensive oriented D men offer more immediate upside.
And to add, that is somewhat of a generalization from my end because I have not had a chance to see him play much, whereas the likes of Murray Dumba and Ceci I have because they have had the advantage of playing a lot on the International stage over the last twelve months. And that stage is what scouts really go to see, so Reinhart has suffered from underexposure. Hopefully he sees a long playoff run, and if a mem cup is in the books, then he will get the chance to impress scouts and GMs when it most counts.
Peter Loubardias came away an even bigger fan of the towering defenseman from Edmonton after the Top Prospects Game:
Quote:
The one defenseman who arguably made the biggest impact on me was Edmonton Oil King Griffin Reinhart. What I like and I am guessing more importantly what the scout’s like is the large, six-foot-four, 205 pounder seems to be getting better and better.
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Haters gonna hate. I took some flack for loving Reinhart so much last year, considering how he started this season. Glad to see he's rebounded as well as he has.
Haters gonna hate. I took some flack for loving Reinhart so much last year, considering how he started this season. Glad to see he's rebounded as well as he has.
Renegade, how you would rank Reinhart against the other top defensive prospects in the 2012 draft?
Reinhart is a terrible skater, and he has some serious confidence issues, mostly stemming from the Oil Kings coach constantly dumping on the kid. If he gets taken any higher than 20 in the first round, that team will be very dissapointed.
