Reviewing the Four 2023 Rangers NHL Trade Deadline Additions

The Ottawa Senators’ deal

After the big St Louis deal, the Rangers front office decided that they needed a bottom-six forward to help fill the roster out after losing some pieces in said deal with the Blues. That’s acceptable given that depth is key for deep playoff runs. You need your depth to play well and you will become an almost unstoppable force. If it works well in partnership with your star talent, you have the ability to push deep and compete for the cup.

With that in mind, the Rangers went out to acquire a familiar face in Tyler Motte with the idea to bolster both the bottom six and the penalty kill. Motte is a serviceable bottom-six forward who knows the organization well after he was a trade acquisition at the deadline last year. He knew most of the players that were still with the Blueshirts from the year prior, and it seemed like a natural fit.

Motte was a major success for the Rangers. He has been a great penalty killer, he has been a great depth forward, he drew penalties in big moments for his team, and he really showed up when the team didn’t. When the team needed him, he answered and did everything he could to get the Rangers in a position to win hockey games. It was not his fault that the season ended the way it did and he found himself having a strong game seven.

To acquire Motte, the Rangers gave up a 7th-round pick that became a 6th if they got out of the first round. That didn’t happen so it remains a 7th. They also parted with Julien Gauthier who has some solid tools but just couldn’t quite put it all together in New York. That is not going to come back to bite the Rangers in all likelihood so this was another good deal that seemed to help the team.