The Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers completed a trade Sunday afternoon. It just likely wasn’t the one Sens fans were hoping for.
Heading to New York is forward Tyler Motte, while the Senators will receive forward Julien Gauthier, and a 2023 conditional 7th round pick.
The conditions on the selection are that if New York advances past the 1st round of the playoffs, then Ottawa will receive the lower of the Rangers or Jets 2023 6th rd pick.
Motte, 27, recorded 9pts (3G, 6A) across 38 contests in the nation’s capital this season. The winger was set to become an UFA at the end of the year after signing a 1yr/$1.35M contract with Ottawa, and was widely expected to be moved ahead of the March 3rd trade deadline.
Coming back the other way is 25 year old right winger Julien Gauthier, a former 1st round selection of the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2016 NHL entry draft.
The 6 ‘4” forward has 9pts (6G, 3A) on the year for the blue shirts, and has recorded 27pts (11G, 16A) in his 136 game NHL career. The Point-aux-Trembles, QC native is in the final year of his contract which counts for $800K against the cap.
Gauthier does however only become a RFA at season’s end, meaning he will come with additional team control.
While the deal will net Ottawa another late round dart throw, and gives them a controllable asset, fans have to be left wanting more as the deal does little to move the needle for the squad which currently sits 7pts behind the Islanders for the final wildcard spot.
When rumours began circulating that Ottawa was deep in talks with New York for Motte, many assumed the Sens could be in the midst of acquiring disgruntled winger Vitali Kravstov.
A former 9th overall pick in 2018, the 23 year old forward is currently buried on the Rangers depth chart, and has publicly asked for a trade several times now. A change of scenery could still be in the cards for the Russian, however at this point it seems unlikely it will be with the Senators.
Ottawa plays host to St. Louis in an afternoon affair at the CTC today.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Ajay Suresh. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.