Thursday, March 3, 2016
Developing Story: Tyler Motte
Dramatic improvement has made Motte one of the nation’s elite players.
In Developing Story, a regular feature on collegehockeyinc.com, we highlight current college hockey players who have developed their skills during their careers – either on the ice or off – and in turn made a bigger impact on their team’s success.
Seeing impact freshmen like Dylan Larkin and Kyle Connor can make it easy to forget that their path to the NHL isn’t conventional – only 30 players each year, world-wide, are first-round draft picks.
The more typical path is the development of players like Tyler Motte (St. Clair, Mich./U.S. NTDP/CHI), who has been a teammate of those two phenoms the last two seasons. After all, 80% of the NCAA alums in the NHL last year were taken after the first round – or never drafted at all.
Motte was a fourth-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013. As far as impact freshmen, he was no slouch – Motte scored 9 goals and added 9 assists as a Michigan rookie. He came to Michigan from USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, so he was hardly an unknown.
Now a junior, Motte has transformed those solid numbers into something spectacular. He leads the nation with 29 goals and has 46 points on a line with Connor and junior J.T. Compher (Northbrook, Ill./U.S. NTDP/COL).
He’s likely the most rapidly developing prospect in Chicago’s very deep pool of future NHLers.
“He’s just a heart-and-soul player,” Mark Kelley, Chicago’s senior director of amateur scouting, told ESPN.com’s Craig Custance. “He plays hard. He contributes offensively. He can win a game by blocking a shot or tipping a puck in. He’s in the dirt the whole time, there’s no hard area for him, he makes it a hard area because he’s there.
For Motte, the progression from contributor to consensus All-American didn’t come from a flip of a switch. It’s been extensive work: practice, video, skills sessions and – most of all – what he and his teammates call “Spring Term.”
It’s not just a time to take classes (though they do; those credits could come in handy towards a degree if Motte decides to sign with Chicago after this season). More significant, at least in this discussion, is what Motte and his teammates learn from strength and conditioning coach Joe Maher.
“Our strength and conditioning schedule in the offseason is really conducive to development,” Motte said. “Joe Maher, our trainer, does a great job creating a program for us. We call it our Spring Term, and guys stay, take a couple of classes and work out with Joe five days a week.”
While most hear strength and conditioning and think squats and bench presses, for Motte it’s meant a lot more footwork.
“It’s a lot of speed work, with a lot of running,” he said. “You’ve got to be strong and powerful, but especially with a long season, endurance is critical as well.”
Motte showed signs of his development as a sophomore before blossoming into a superstar this year. There were hints of the coming breakout at Chicago Blackhawks development camp in July.
“I feel stronger on my skates out here, more comfortable going into corner, battling with guys,” he told ESPN Chicago. “Obviously the skill set playing in college the last couple of years has helped tremendously. I feel stronger on the puck, having the vision and making a few more plays, knowing where some of the other guys are going to be. Development the last couple of years, I feel like I’ve done well.”
His game took off from the start of this season. Every weekend – seemingly every shift – Motte darts into open spaces and between defenders, threading passes to Connor and accepting pucks in stride from Compher. The line has been a force, and has a chance to carry Michigan to its first Big Ten title and a return to the NCAA Tournament.
The success has also allowed Motte to reflect on the process and how far he has come since that 18-point freshman season.
“I always knew that Michigan was going to be a place I could come and grow as a player and as a person,” he said. “Coming in as a freshman I had to feel it out a bit week-to-week when the points weren’t always coming. I took pride in the defensive zone and reverted back to little things like blocking shots and playing well defensively.”
He still leads the team (and all Big Ten forwards) in blocked shots and hasn’t sacrificed defense to get those 29 goals. Meanwhile, the growth off the ice has been just as significant – if not moreso.
Motte has a great role model in that regard with older brother C.J., an All-American who graduated from Ferris State last year. Not heavily recruited, C.J. experienced tremendous development as a Bulldog and became a star after making just 12 starts as a freshman. He has played with the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals this season.
College hockey was an obvious path for both C.J. and Tyler, sons of college athletes at Adrian, Steve and Nancy.
“My family takes education very seriously,” Tyler said. “My parents weren’t going to make decisions for us, but they always wanted what was best for us, and it became ingrained in us how important education is. I always felt that college was going to be the route for me. You are going to need that education to fall back on, whether it’s one year after graduation or further down the road.”
Motte’s junior season surely suggests the possibility for a lengthy pro hockey career. But it’s clear that the education he has received at Michigan – both on and off the ice – has set him up well for the future.