I just wanted to highlight Motte's PK ability. In terms of PP goals against / shorthanded TOI, Motte is actually among the league's best forwards at keeping pucks out of the net in shorthanded situations.
When a player block a tons of shots, it usually means his team doesn’t have the puck often when he’s on the ice
Hence, Patrice Bergeron has the most shot blocks of the Boston Bruins' forward group?
NHL.com - Stats, Shot Blocks, Boston Bruins, 2018-19
A big reason for the discrepancy is the line matching. Top line of the other team vs shutdown line, in 5-vs-5 situations as well. Motte also records some shot blocks on the penalty kill, which obviously is spent mostly in one's own zone. The entire PK shift is spent in the defensive end, save for the occasional shorthanded opportunity a la his goal today.
Motte leads the Canucks forwards in penalty kill TOI this season. In fact, he has the 5th-most penalty kill TOI of all forwards in the entire NHL.
He is 43rd in the NHL in PP goals against, which means he is effective on the PK -- especially relative to his PK TOI. Markus Granlund, on the other hand, has the second most PP goals against in the NHL and has less SH TOI than Motte, which means he bleeds goals against on the PK.
NHL.com - Stats - SH TOI, All Forwards, 2018-19
NHL.com - Stats - PP Goals Against, All Forwards, 2018-19
Patrice Bergeron has been on the ice for 6 PP goals against in 37:37 of SH TOI.
Tyler Motte has been on the ice for 5 PP goals against in 58:21 of SH TOI.
Alexander Barkov has been on the ice for 8 PP goals against in 39:31 of SH TOI.
Everyone who has logged anywhere near as much SH TOI as Motte has been on the ice for more PP goals against than him. For example, Carl Soderberg leads all NHL forwards in SH TOI with 65:47, but has been on the ice for a league-leading 14 PP GA. If you want to pinpoint a problem on the Canucks' PK, it's Markus Granlund: 11 PP goals against in 58:15 of SH TOI.
Motte has been effective for the Canucks on the PK. The Canucks have the 21st-best PK % in the league. I think it would be worse if not for him.
Between 2015-16 and 2017-18, the Canucks averaged the third-worst PK in the NHL.
Update: After tonight, Motte has the fourth-most SH TOI of all forwards in the NHL, although Patrik Laine was able to beat the Canucks on the PP today. He has 6 PP goals against in 61:20 of SH TOI. That's some commendable penalty killing on his part.
He played a strong game today. 4 shots, 4 hits, 3 blocked shots, and a shorthanded goal. He was placed on a line with Sam Gagner and Bo Horvat in the third period, and they created a few chances.
Winnipeg Jets - Vancouver Canucks - November 19th, 2018