Motte and Jussi Jokinen were traded to Vancouver on Monday, with Thomas Vanek bound for Columbus, John Shannon of Sportsnet reports.
This is a 2-for-1 swap involving nothing but forwards. Motte will get acquainted with his third NHL team since the Blackhawks originally selected him in the fourth round (121st overall) of the 2013 draft. He's compiled seven goals, five assists and 16 PIM through 64 career games, which may not excite fantasy owners at first glance, but there's a good chance that he'll avoid seeing a ton of time in AHL Utica since the Canucks really needed a bottom-six energizer to chase down loose pucks and control possession in the attacking zone.
Motte was assigned to AHL Utica in a paper move Monday.
Motte was just acquired by the Canucks in a trade for Thomas Vanek, and he will be sticking with Vancouver for now. This transaction was a formality so that the new acquisition would be eligible for the AHL playoffs.
The Vancouver Canucks have sent forward Thomas Vanek to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jussi Jokinen and Tyler Motte.
VAN expected to receive Tyler Motte and Jussi Jokinen in exchange for Thomas Vanek going to CBJ. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 26, 2018
There have been some reports that the Canucks may be receiving different players and this post will be updated.
Jussi Jokinen was signed by the Edmonton Oilers in the off-season after being bought out by the Florida Panthers in the summer. He was later traded to the Los Angeles Kings, and then was waived two months later and claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has one goal and six assists in 46 NHL games this season. He had cleared waivers earlier this morning.
Motte was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and was moved to the Blue Jackets in the offseason as a part of the Artemi Panarin and Brandon Saad deal. He has appeared in 31 NHL games this season and was limited to five points. Motte had a strong NCAA career but hasn’t been able to translate that offensive production to the professional ranks. Motte is a bit of grinding forward who has flashed that offensive potential, but at this point, he may not be able to realize that. He has rebounded well this year in the AHL with nine goals and two assists in 17 games with the Cleveland Monsters:
That increase in production this year has seen his pGPS cohort percentage increase:
Thomas Vanek was signed in the off-season, and the impression was that he would be flipped for an asset at the deadline, which we now kow happened today. The fanbase was hoping for a draft pick return for the veteran winger, but it appears the organization wanted to target another early twenties player who hasn’t been able to secure a full-time spot in the NHL and a veteran winger on an expiring deal.
With that being said, this fits exactly into what Canucks management has been preaching for the last few months, which is getting young twenties players who can help them now.
This return can be seen as disappointing as the organization still only has six draft picks for the 2018 NHL Draft. But this deal fits into the same mould as many other trades over this management’s regime.
Unbelievable.
The Vancouver Canucks are in 28th place in the NHL, on-pace for a third-straight finish in the NHL basement and a third-straight top-five draft pick. The team has obvious gaps and flaws at the NHL level and a good prospect pool, but one with some serious gaps as well, particularly on defence.
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The team needs more draft picks to build a stronger, deeper prospect pool so that they can create some lasting success in the future. Jim Benning’s strength is supposed to be scouting and drafting, while Trevor Linden has preached patience of late, emphasizing the need to build through the draft.
So, when Benning and Linden traded Thomas Vanek — their biggest, if not their only, trade chip — they brought back 22-year-old Tyler Motte and 34-year-old Jussi Jokinen.
The one thing we can say is that Benning has learned how to lie, to a certain extent. When he said that he was looking to make “hockey trades” rather than acquiring draft picks, he wasn’t kidding. He did say, however, that he was looking for a “big player.”
Brendan Leipsic, the return in the Philip Holm trade, is 5’9”. Tyler Motte isn’t much bigger at 5’10”.
Size isn’t everything, by any means, but this seems like a deal that will make nobody happy. Those clamouring for the Canucks to acquire draft picks to rebuild properly will be incensed that the return for Vanek was a 22-year-old tweener, while those hoping for some size and physicality to protect the prospects coming up in the coming years don’t get what they want either.
Tyler Motte had a productive college career, scoring 32 goals and 56 points in 38 games in his junior year in the NCAA, but that hasn’t translated to his pro career. While he did have 9 goals and 11 points in 17 AHL games this season, he had just 16 points in 43 AHL games last season.
At the NHL level, Motte has some value as a bottom-six energy winger who can kill penalties and might have some upside if he can recapture some of his college form, but the odds of that are slim. He can play at centre or on the wing, so he provides some flexibility.
Motte’s on-ice shot statistics are underwhelming. His 47.1% corsi percentage is, like Leipsic, better than just two other forwards on his team. That is not ideal.
Jussi Jokinen, meanwhile, is a pending UFA. His inclusion in the deal initially looked like a cap dump, since he went unclaimed on waivers yesterday, but he’s only making $1.1 million per year and the Blue Jackets have plenty of cap space. So I guess the Canucks took Jokinen off the Blue Jackets hands as a favour? How was Vanek not enough for a 22-year-old AHL tweener, so that the Canucks had to take on an extra veteran?
The Canucks will be Jokinen’s fourth team this season, as he bounced around the Oilers and Kings before joining the Blue Jackets. Now he’ll either take a roster spot from a younger player in the NHL or get waived again to play in Utica.
But besides the players involved in the deal, it’s simply incredible that the Canucks came out of this trade deadline without a single draft pick. Instead of building for the future, Jim Benning acquired more third-line forwards in their 20s.
