Reinhardt’s game evolves at next level

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This article was published 21/01/2022 (1520 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cole Reinhardt continues to be the living embodiment of the old cliché that hard work pays off, especially with a little bit of patience.

The 21-year-old forward from Irricana, Alta., lasted until the ninth round of the 2015 Western Hockey League draft, when the Brandon Wheat Kings took him with the 198th choice.

He made the team as a 16-year-old, but despite improving every season, went unselected in the National Hockey League until the Ottawa Senators grabbed him as a 19-year-old in the 2020 draft with the 181st pick.

Now in his second season skating with the American Hockey League’s Belleville Senators, Reinhardt was finally rewarded last spring in a meaningful way.

Ottawa announced on April 16, 2021 they had signed Reinhardt to a three-year, entry-level contract, which began this season.

“To this day it’s crazy,” Reinhardt said. “Not being drafted two years and then getting drafted and I went through the whole year on an AHL tryout. One day, we were actually in Calgary, my coach called me in and we were talking. My year was going pretty good and he said ‘I think it would take a lot of stress off you if you knew the plan is to sign you. I think it would take the stress off you if you did it now.’

“That moment I got to spend with my parents a little bit, with what we could do with COVID. It was crazy. I don’t know if it feels real yet.”

Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion said in a release at the time that Reinhardt earned his contract.

“We’ve been exceedingly happy with Cole’s play this season,” Dorion said. “For someone who was just recently drafted, he’s already showcased a great combination of strength and speed in addition to excellent hockey sense, which is likely his best attribute.”

Reinhardt certainly made steady strides in junior.

He put up seven points in 61 games with the Wheat Kings as a 16-year-old in the 2016-17 season, with his first breakthrough coming a season later when he contributed 19 goals and 15 assists in 68 games.

In his continued growth, he put up 22 goals and 23 assists in 67 games in his 18-year-old campaign in the 2018-19 season, and then finished up with 31 goals and 24 assists in 56 games as an alternate captain in 2019-20.

In total, the six-foot-one, 200-pound forward piled up 141 points in 252 regular season WHL games. 

Reinhardt and Luka Burzan were both expected back by the Wheat Kings as overagers for the 2020-21 campaign, but as the WHL start date was pushed back and pushed back, other options eventually manifested themselves.

Reinhardt was contacted by Belleville coach Troy Mann after Christmas with an invitation to camp. He soon made the 3,572-kilometre drive from Irricana to Belleville.

The Albertan quickly made an impression and they invited him to stay for the rest of the year on an amateur tryout contract.

“I don’t think it really kicked in yet,” Reinhardt said of the move to professional hockey. “I hadn’t really signed anything. I was still on an AHL tryout. Obviously I realized I was playing in the American League, but once I was there I knew I belonged and I fit in. 

“It was pretty exciting, especially after hearing the WHL season wasn’t going to be a normal season and there was no Memorial Cup, no finals, no playoffs. That wasn’t really exciting me. 

“I think I got super lucky.”

While he didn’t have the traditional chance to say goodbye to his junior teammates that a graduating player has, he stayed in touch with the guys he’s close to.

In a way, Reinhardt’s move to the pros was similar to being a 16-year-old rookie in the WHL all over again: He was the young guy adjusting to older players and a much higher level of hockey.

“My head grew so much with how much I learned,” Reinhardt said. “How to be a good pro and just knowing how it’s so different from junior and you have to take on your role every night. At the same time, the American League is a development league to get to the WHL so you have to develop the assets that make you good.”

Reinhardt said perhaps the biggest difference between junior and the AHL is what he calls the “want-it factor.”

“Everyone obviously works hard in the American League, so it’s the compete level and wanting to get to the next level,” Reinhardt said. “They say the American League is the hardest league to score in because everyone is trying to get to the next level and they want to do good for themselves and help their team to help them get to the next level.”

That’s forced Reinhardt to find ways to improve his game, and he thinks he’s succeeded. The biggest change is in his skating, which wasn’t his strength when he came into the WHL at 16.

“I’ve gotten faster still,” Reinhardt said. “I know when I first came to Brandon nobody really thought I was the fastest guy ever. As I came along through the years I really worked on it and I thought in my last year I was pretty improved.

“In my first year pro, everyone was like ‘Holy, you’re fast, super fast, that’s a big aspect of your game.’ I’m using my speed and use my shot to my advantage and play a two-way game.”

He’s also learned that the numbers you put up in junior don’t mean a thing at the next level. Instead, players are judged by how they defend.

“Pro is so different,” Reinhardt said. “You can be a skill guy in junior but you have to learn how to play your backup game, as some guys say. You have a backup game you can always rely on and then let your skill take over.” 

In his first year with Belleville, Reinhardt put up six goals, six assists and eight penalty minutes in 33 games. This season, he is fifth in team scoring with five goals and eight assists in 30 games.

He said it’s inspirational seeing his teammates getting called up to the NHL.

“Our room is super good about it too,” Reinhardt said. “It’s just a lot of believing in yourself and knowing how close you really are.”

Another big difference in pro hockey is how he relates to his teammates. He’s no longer one of two dozen teenagers playing on a junior team: His teammates now include family men.

“It’s been different with COVID but most of the older guys have kids or have a wife,” Reinhardt said. “At the end of the day, you’re still hanging out with the younger guys. I live with two other guys so you see them every day. There isn’t the aspect of hanging out all the time but you’re still getting together as a team, more often than you think.”

Reinhardt’s roommates are a pair of former WHL stars, Mark Kastelic of the Calgary Hitmen and Parker Kelly of the Prince Albert Raiders. Jacob Bernard-Docker, an Albertan who played at the University of North Dakota, also lives with them.

There is no shortage of old WHL war stories being shared in the house.

“Kastelic and Kelly fought each other once before,” Reinhardt said with a laugh. “It’s funny.”

Reinhardt lived in a hotel last season, and is making do in a house this year, even without his mom or billet mom preparing meals. That’s just fine for the farm kid.

“We have a pretty good gig for a house,” Reinhardt said. “We live in an old clubhouse on a golf course, and it’s really big and nice. The kitchen is huge and I don’t find cooking a problem. Honestly, it’s nice being on your own. You can do whatever you want. You don’t have to have someone else guiding you.”

Like a lot of people, in the moment Reinhardt perhaps didn’t grasp the progress he was making in Brandon. With the benefit of hindsight, he can see clearly what the Wheat Kings did for him and gives them a lot of credit for where he is now.

“I think a lot of it goes to them,” Reinhardt said. “It was learning. I was 16 and didn’t play a lot, and then I was 19 playing a lot. It was the progression of turning into a pro.

“I don’t think I realized it at the time, but I went through it and looking back at it, I have Brandon to thank for a lot.”

 

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson