I think Motte is absolutely worth something around the 50th pick in the draft.
People need to understand his production in context. He was a pure fourth line crash and bang guy up until the bubble. Since then, he’s shown much more offense to his game - both with and without the puck.
The bubble, pandemic year, and this year (84 gp) - he has 17 goals and 11 assists while playing with players who do not produce a lick of offense. Again, this is basically a 1.5 year stretch of consistent third line production with no PP time in a hard 15 mpg playing with players whose offensive talent is that of a 4th liner or less.
28 points in the previous 84 given the context is extremely impressive.
Reasons he won’t return a first round pick unlike Barclay Goodrow -
1.. He is a UFA this summer while Goodrow had an extra year at $925k making him an insane bargain.
2. Injury history - Motte has frequently missed games.
He's a very effective player. He has always been a player I thought would be ideal for the Leafs. I just don't see even top 50 pick return TBH. At the end of the day, he would not get any more opportunity in TOR, or any contending team for that matter, than he does in VAN. His PK abilities would likely be utilized after Kampf and Marner, who together headline a top-5 PK in the NHL. I am not even entirely sure he would replace either Micheyev or Kerfoot on PK2. So the acquisition would be entirely for 4th line minutes, 3rd line at best.
@UrbanImpact mentioned:
Going into the 3rd period if the Leafs are up by 1 or 2 goals I would 100% play Motte more than the likes of
Marner
Nylander
Kase
Mikheyev
Engvall
Which I really don't get at all. He may be the headliner on the 32nd ranked PK and out on the ice in the final minutes of Canucks games, but I can almost guarantee you he'd not see more ice time than almost everyone on that list. The only exception might be Nylander.
My point has never been that Motte is a poor player, but I just don't see how Patrick Alvin was offered a top 40 pick for a guy who has played his entire career in a bottom 6 role, and is on an expiring contract, and somehow the value wasn't enough. If I were a Canucks fan and heard that, I'd be shaking my head. To me, it is a clear attempt by the media to bolster the asking price. I really don't think there is any chance Motte returns a 2nd, let alone a top 40 pick. But maybe that's just me. I'm just a Leafs fan who lives in Vancouver and admittedly I have a Leafs bias. But I do watch a ton of Canucks games on TV and in person, and although I've always liked Motte, that's just how I see it.
All that said, I would absolutely love some sort of package that sees Schenn and Motte to the Leafs. Although based on the reported valuation of Motte, I cannot imagine what the price tag would be for those 2 players.
