Report: Rangers' Tyler Motte out for at least the rest of regular season

Not long before the trade deadline hit, the Rangers sent a 2023 fourth-round draft pick to Vancouver to pick up winger Tyler Motte with an eye on deepening their bottom six and adding some more grit to their roster. Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to use Motte much.

The 27-year-old played in nine games before suffering an upper-body injury last month. Head coach Gerard Gallant acknowledged to Mollie Walker of the New York Post will keep him out at least for the rest of the regular season. A return for the playoffs is far from a guarantee as Gallant said “I just heard he’s out for quite a while."

He was held without a point in those nine games, but averaged three hits a game while playing primarily on the fourth line while taking a regular turn shorthanded as well. With Vancouver, Motte had 15 points and 90 hits in 49 games and was in the middle of making a case for a decent-sized raise on his $1.225M AAV as he gets set to reach the open market for the first time this summer.

Fortunately for the Rangers, they have a surplus of forwards at the moment, with 16 healthy ones they have on thee active roster. Alexis Lafreniere got the night off on Wednesday and Gallant indicated they’d be looking to get some regulars some rest over the final couple of weeks of the season. But most of those 16 don’t play the type of role that Motte does and New York will undoubtedly be hoping that he’ll be able to return at some point in the playoffs.