Trade: Tyler Motte Dealt to Rangers for Julien Gauthier + Conditional 7th Rd Pick
Tyler Motte is returning to broadway.
After being dealt to the New York Rangers at last year’s trade deadline, the Senators moved the depth forward this afternoon for Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh-round pick.
It was somewhat of a disappointing campaign for the left winger. Signed late in the offseason after multi-year deals elsewhere could not be secured, Motte was expected to flank rookie pivot Shane Pinto and Mathieu Joseph. The expectation at the outset of camp was that this trio would provide some quality depth down the forward ranks — giving head coach D.J. Smith a quick and hardworking checking line that could produce offensively. It never really worked out that way.
It was not really a fault of Motte’s.
A shoulder injury to Josh Norris early in the season shook up the team’s depth chart down the middle, forcing Pinto to play with more offensively inclined wingers. Injuries also caused Motte (broken finger) and Joseph (lower-body injury) to miss their share of games, as well.
I still believe that Motte was a solid bet in the offseason, it just did not work out for him here. He leaves Ottawa contributing three goals and nine points in 38 games.
The important matter is, what did Ottawa get in return?
In Julien Gauthier, the Senators are adding a 25-year-old right-winger who has struggled to fulfill the potential that the Carolina Hurricanes saw in him when they made him the 21st overall selection in the 2016 NHL Draft.
In the time since, Gauthier has played six professional seasons, but it is only in the last three that he has truly become an NHL regular with incredibly modest results.
In 137 career NHL games, the winger has scored 11 goals and added 27 points. The modest production
The underlying numbers are not that impressive either.
Using HockeyViz.com’s data, Gauthier’s had a below-average impact offensively, but his isolated impact as a defender has been below average as well. If there is something positive to be said, he does draw his share of penalties but he takes a ton of them as well.
The underwhelming statistical profile goes well beyond the 2022-23 season too. His isolated impacts on the offensive and defensive sides of the puck have been underwhelming.
JfreshHockey’s player card adds more context to note that Gauthier’s quality of competition was not that strong either. He simply is not excelling while playing relatively soft minutes.
The statistical profile isn’t a great one, so it stands to reason that management is probably enticed by Gauthier’s physical tools and pedigree. Gauthier enjoyed a lot of success playing alongside Mathieu Joseph and Thomas Chabot with the Saint John Sea Dogs, so there is that degree of familiarity there that the organization tends to value.
Being a good skater who stands 6’5” helps too. The Senators often place a ton of value on having big wingers down the lineup, so Gauthier definitely fits that bill. Being a first-round pick may make the organization believe that there is still untapped upside here, but that was seven years and two organizations ago.
In a way, this trade reminds me somewhat of the last year’s Nick Paul deal in the sense that rather than trade the player for a higher draft pick, the Senators preferred a warm body that they could plug into their lineup and get an extended window of opportunity to see if Gauthier’s a piece that they will keep around. As an impending restricted free agent, the Senators have another year of team control on Gauthier provided that they submit him a qualifying offer this summer.
I don’t really understand the allure of Gauthier, since the only thing he really offers the team is another year of team control. Considering how the organization’s goal is to play meaningful games and chase a wild card seed, I don’t see how this helps the team do that. By trading Motte, the Senators traded the more valuable player. If the organization accepts that, they probably should have preferred a draft selection. At least then there’s a chance that whomever they take has a chance to be better than the replacement level player that Gauthier has resembled in each of his professional seasons.
What is frustrating for me is that this deal perfectly illustrates poor asset management.
Earlier this season, the organization could have and should have claimed Eeli Tolvanen off waivers — as I suggested in a piece earlier this season. Like Gauthier, Tolvanen had pedigree being the 30th overall selection in the 2017 NHL Draft. Although Tolvanen’s multi-year contract is more expensive and carries an element of risk in that regard, what separates him from Gauthier is that the Finnish winger’s production and underlying numbers suggested that there was actually room for growth.
The gamble has paid off for the Seattle Kraken so far.
Players who have Gauthier’s impact profile can routinely be found every summer in free agency or on the waiver wire.
Had Ottawa claimed Tolvanen, they would have had the better player and they would have had the flexibility to move Motte for a draft pick. The Senators should have had a better player and a higher draft selection.
It is not like this isolated series of moves will drastically alter Ottawa’s franchise development, but the Senators would have wound up with two better assets than what they got today. Over time, these mistakes can add up. And, when the Senators are not spending to the upper reaches of the cap ceiling, the process of arbitrage — maximizing the value of every asset the organization can get its hands on — becomes even more crucial.