Tyler Motte returns to Rangers in deal that sends Julien Gauthier to Senators
Tyler Motte #64 of the Rangers celebrates his third period empty goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during Game Three of the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, May 22, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Apparently, Chris Drury doesn’t believe in waiting until the last minute.
The Rangers’ general manager already had made a big splash by dealing for sniper Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola three weeks before the March 3 NHL trade deadline. He struck again Sunday by reacquiring gritty fourth-liner Tyler Motte from the Ottawa Senators.
The Rangers sent fourth-liner Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh-round pick in this summer’s draft to Ottawa. The pick will become a sixth-rounder — the lower of the two sixth-rounders the Rangers have this summer — if the Blueshirts get past the first round of the playoffs.
Drury traded for Motte, 27, at last year’s deadline, and while the 5-10, 192-pounder didn’t score in nine regular-season games with the Rangers, he had two goals in 15 playoff games and gave the Blueshirts the speed and forechecking ability they sought.
Motte provided a spark during last year’s first-round playoff series win over the Penguins after replacing an injured Barclay Goodrow in Games 6 and 7. Motte’s defensive play and penalty-killing ability earned the trust of coach Gerard Gallant.
In the Game 7 overtime win over the Penguins, Motte had five hits (second-best on the team) in 15:35 of ice time, including 2:36 on the penalty kill. By comparison, Kaapo Kakko got only 8:49 of ice time in Game 7.
The Rangers had interest in re-signing Motte last summer when he became a free agent, but as tight as they were against the salary cap, they couldn’t afford him.
Motte signed a one-year deal with Ottawa for $1.35 million. He had three goals and six assists in 38 games for the Senators and again will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
After getting Tarasenko on Feb. 9 to fill their need for a scoring right wing to play on one of their top two lines, and adding Mikkola to upgrade their defense, the Rangers wanted to add punch to their fourth line, which has contributed little this season.
In Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss in Calgary, the fourth line did not play at all in the third period. Gallant cut down to 10 forwards for the final 20-plus minutes.
While the Rangers gave up size in the 6-4, 224-pound Gauthier, they shored up the defense on their fourth line and added to their penalty-killing depth by bringing in Motte.
Gauthier, 25, had six goals and three assists in 40 games for the Rangers after being called up from AHL Hartford in October, but after being impressive early on, he had been less noticeable of late. He averaged only 8 minutes, 21 seconds per game. Motte averaged 13:32 for Ottawa.
With nearly two weeks left before the deadline, Drury still has some flexibility to make another move. By sending Gauthier’s $800,000 salary to Ottawa, the Rangers still have a little room under the $82.5 million salary cap. They are projected to have slightly more than $900,000 in space under the cap by deadline day, according to CapFriendly.
That would be enough to bring in another minimum salary. If Drury is willing or able to ship out forward Vitali Kravtsov and remove his $875,000 from the payroll, he would have even more space to work with.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
