Lightning has trade interest in Canucks' Tyler Motte: report
It looks like the defending Stanley Cup champions have their eye on a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
According to a report from Irfaan Gaffar of The Fourth Period, the Tampa Bay Lightning have “shown a lot of interest recently” in Canucks forward Tyler Motte. Gaffar adds that the Lightning view Motte as a similar player to Barclay Goodrow, who they lost in the offseason.
Name we keep hearing about as well is Tyler Motte in Vancouver. Tampa Bay has shown a lot of interest recently in the Canucks forward. View him as a piece that fits right in kind of like a Barclay Goodrow. Oh ya, Tampa in Vancouver Sunday.
— Irfaan Gaffar (@irfgaffar) March 11, 2022
Tampa Bay actually lost the entirety of its impressive third line last summer, as Goodrow and Blake Coleman signed lucrative free-agent contracts with the Rangers and Flames, respectively. Meanwhile, the centre on that line, Yanni Gourde, was picked up by the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.
Despite those losses, the Lightning is once again a powerhouse team, with the fourth-best record in the NHL. But it trails the Florida Panthers in the Atlantic Division and could have a difficult first-round opponent in the form of the Toronto Maple Leafs or Boston Bruins.
The Lightning is an average team on the penalty kill (80.1%, 16th best in the NHL), which is an area Motte could help in. Motte could also help improve Tampa’s speed in its bottom six forward group, which includes Patrick Maroon and Corey Perry.
While the Canucks would hate to lose Motte, what they’d hate more is losing him for nothing. The 27-year-old forward is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and is due for a big raise this summer.
The native of St. Clair, Michigan is enjoying the finest season of his NHL career, with 14 points (7-7-14) in 43 games. Motte has found chemistry on a surprisingly effective line with Juho Lammikko and Matthew Highmore and ranks seventh among Canucks forwards in average ice time.
Myers also on the trade block
Another player the Canucks could be looking to deal is Tyler Myers, according to Sportsnet 590’s Nick Kypreos.
Jim Rutherford focus going into the last week of trade deadline is to off load a big @Canucks contract with term. With unlikely scenario of trading Miller, Tyler Myers name is now added to a list of @NHL D-man available. Avv 6m for 2 more years. #RealKyperandBourne @FAN590
— Nick Kypreos (@RealKyper) March 11, 2022
Myers will be trickier to trade than Motte, given Myers has two more years left on his contract after this season, paying him $6 million per season. At age 32, the 6-foot-8 blueliner still skates well, and has formed a reasonably-effective pairing with Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
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