Phil Kessel trade seems inevitable for Coyotes

The 2022 NHL Trade Deadline is Monday, March 21 at 3 p.m. ET. As we get closer to the deadline we will take a look at some individual players who could be on the move. We start today with Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel.

This season has mostly gone according to plan for the Arizona Coyotes. Or, at the very least, how everybody expected it to go.

They spent the offseason gutting the roster of veteran players (Christian Dvorak, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, Darcy Kuemper) and stockpiling draft picks. Those trades have helped them accumulate eight picks in the first two rounds of the 2022 draft (three first-round picks, five second-round picks) and 12 in total. They are almost certain to add to those picks over the next month.

Jacob Chychrun’s name has been mentioned in trade talks for most of the season, while the team is loaded with pending unrestricted free agents. The latter group includes veteran forward Phil Kessel who seems almost guaranteed to be traded before the March 21 deadline. What motivation is there for the Coyotes to not trade him at this point? The team has one of the worst records in the league, the team is clearly rebuilding for the future, and Kessel is 34 years old and would seem to have no long-term future with the team.

So where is he going? Which teams would make sense?

What the return might look like

Kessel is no longer an elite player or goal scorer and is having a very down year in the latter category. As of Monday he has just six goals in 50 games this season which is a nine-goal pace over 82 games. Part of that is due to a career low 5.7 shooting percentage, part of it is due to decline shot volume, and part of it could be just being on a rebuilding team short of talent. Either way, a change of scenery seems like a good thing for him. Still, his production, age, and contract are not going to result in a huge return. Maybe a second-round pick? Third-round pick and mid-level prospect? That is probably the neighborhood we are…