Tyler Motte Traded to Rangers from Senators for Julian Gauthier, 2023 NHL Draft Pick

The Ottawa Senators announced Sunday the acquisition of Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh-round pick from the New York Rangers in exchange for Tyler Motte.

The deal doesn't come as a major surprise after Motte was told to go home Sunday as trade talks intensified.

So Motte, 27, returns to the Rangers after also being acquired by the team last March from the Vancouver Canucks in a trade. This season he's tallied three goals and six assists, while he gave the Rangers two goals in 15 playoff games last season.

He'll offer New York another strong penalty-killing option as a bottom-six forward.

The Rangers are contenders yet again, currently sitting third in the Metropolitan Division with 75 points, well clear of the jumble that is the wild-card race at this juncture of the season. The Rangers are currently 12 points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Metropolitan.

As for the Senators, a wild-card berth is still feasible at 56 points, though they can afford to give a player like Gauthier a bigger role. The 25-year-old has notched six goals and three assists this season, already his most productive season in the NHL.

For the Rangers, Gauthier was never going to see a major role and potentially wouldn't have even made the playoff roster. Getting Motte, given his experience with the organization previously—and the fact that he was a very solid contributor at the time—represented a nice, if not overly sexy, upgrade.

And the Senators can give Gauthier a bigger role to further explore his own potential, along with acquiring some draft capital in the process. On paper, at least, it has the makings of a mutually beneficial exchange.