The New York Rangers want a second-round Motte Girl Summer, as they bought winger Tyler Motte from the Ottawa Senators for Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh-round pick.
The Senators announced earlier in the day that Motte would be dropped from the roster Sunday against the St. Louis Blues as a trade precaution. It didn’t even matter, as the Sens ended up making the trade just before the game started.
Motte hasn’t been super productive with just three goals, six assists and nine points in 38 games for the Sens this year, and his defense has seen a bit of a setback this season, as he had the worst goals against. expected by 60 to 5 against 5 in Sens with a 3 equal. Motte currently has a one-year, $1.35 million contract and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, a major reason he was dealt.
This isn’t Motte’s first stint with Rangers either, as he was one of their additions at the trade deadline last season. He was held useless in nine regular season games with them and scored two goals in 15 playoff games in Rangers’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
In return, the Senators get Julien Gauthier, a 25-year-old winger who was a former first-round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes. He has just six goals, three assists and nine points in 40 games this season, and has also struggled defensively in his NHL career so far. He currently has a one-year contract with an $800,000 cap and will be a restricted free agent this summer.
The Senators also get a conditional seventh-round pick in the deal. If the Rangers make it past the first round, the pick will move up to a sixth-round pick, and the Senators will get the lower of the Rangers or Jets picks they have for the 2023 NHL Draft.
With this deal, Rangers add a little more depth to their attacking group, particularly in their fourth line. They have already improved their top-six group by trading for Vladimir Tarasenko earlier in the month.
As for the Sens, this is a sign that they started selling some coins at the trade deadline. Some other UFAs they could try to trade are Cam Talbot, Travis Hamonic, Austin Watson, Derick Brassard and Nick Holden. Nikita Zaitsev is another name out there, as he just missed the cut on Frank Seravalli’s trade target list last week.
