Ex-Canucks forward Motte signs modest free agent contract with Senators
Motte #Motte
Tyler Motte has finally found a team in unrestricted free agency.
It was a long wait for the former Vancouver Canucks forward, who was traded to the New York Rangers at the trade deadline last season.
Motte has landed a one-year contract with the Ottawa Senators worth $1.35 million, which is actually less money than the $1.45 million he made last season — though he’ll now count more against the salary cap ($1.225 million) than each of the last two seasons.
It’s likely less money than Motte imagined he would get on the open market, but with training camps beginning in nine days around the NHL, he was running out of time to get a deal done. Such is life for a depth forward in the flat-cap era.
The 27-year-old should get a good opportunity to play with the Senators, who are happy to have him.
“Tyler is a tenacious checker who plays the game with pace,” said Sens general manager Pierre Dorion. “He’s a strong penalty killer and another competitive person who adds to the depth of our group.”
Motte scored 15 points (7-8-15) in 49 games for the Canucks last season before moving on to New York. He didn’t register a point for the Rangers in nine regular season games but had two goals in 15 playoff games.
The St. Clair, Michigan, native provides value as a checker — a two-way winger that brought energy and an ability to kill penalties.
Though he was thought of as a third-liner, his ice time told another story. Motte earned the trust of his coach in Vancouver, both under Travis Green and Bruce Boudreau, and played over 14 minutes per game last season, and over 16 minutes in 2020-21.
Given his perceived importance to the Canucks in recent years, you may have been wondering if a return to Vancouver was in the cards. Not so, says CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, who reports that the Canucks were not in the mix for Motte.
The Canucks already have over $44 million committed to forwards for next season, including the additions of Ilya Mikheyev, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Curtis Lazar in free agency.