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The very day the Edmonton Oilers acquired Griffin Reinhart from the New York Islanders for a rich collection of futures, general manager Peter Chiarelli was asked whether he expected Reinhart to play right away.

“I would hope so, yeah,” he replied, his voice almost incredulous.

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He went even further a few months later when talking to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

“He has to make our team,” Chiarelli said. “We’ve got eight or nine D who are challenging. I believe he is. I know his year last year wasn’t great and there’s reasons behind that and that really is, not excuses, but there are reasons that explain it. But what I saw in the Memorial Cup is that you’ve got a player here who can dominate, that can lug the puck, and that can make plays and for a bigger sized man, he can move well.”

“I would expect him to be in the top-four at some point,” he added.

That hasn’t happened.

Instead, on Saturday Reinhart drew the short straw and was assigned to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL to make room for Justin Schultz. Waiver eligibility was a factor, and so was Andrew Ference’s no-move clause; the Oilers were handcuffed in many ways. Even so, if Reinhart had earned a spot in the top-four, Edmonton would have found a way to keep him. That, after all, is why Darnell Nurse is with the Oilers after starting the year in the minors.