Trade Rumor: Phil Kessel To Be Moved Way Before Trade Deadline

With the Arizona Coyotes rebuilding, it's no surprise that they are looking to trade veteran Phil Kessel. According to Darren Dreger, he envisions that Kessel will be moved way before the trade deadline. He also noted that he would have to stay healthy, though. He has played over 900 straight games without an injury, so that shouldn't be too hard for him.

Dreger on TSN1050: "As long as he stays healthy I don't think Kessel makes it to March, I think he gets traded before March".
— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) October 7, 2021

The Coyotes traded a significant portion of their core during the off-season. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, Christian Dvorak and Darcy Kuemper were all traded. Arizona also took in a number of players on bad contracts like Loui Eriksson, Antoine Roussel, Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrew Ladd to receive high draft picks.

Therefore, they are clearly in a rebuild. Kessel has one year left and is 34 years old. There's no need to keep him around for it and they could get a nice return for him because he's still quite skilled.

In 56 games last season, Kessel scored 20 goals and recorded 43 points. In 1,123 games at this juncture, he has 391 goals, 514 assists and 905 points. Will he be joining his fifth NHL team shortly? It seems inevitable.