Kessel Watch: 15 scouts show up to watch the Coyotes.

It seems like a forgone conclusion at this point that National Hockey League veteran Phil Kessel will wind up playing for a different team before the season has reached its conclusion. It is no secret that Kessel would prefer not to remain on an Arizona Coyotes roster that is in the middle of yet another rebuild, with Coyotes insider Craig Morgan reporting back in August that Kessel had requested a trade.

We would later learn that the Coyotes themselves appear to be of a similar mindset when NHL insider Darren Dreger reported earlier this month that newly appointed Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong did not view Kessel, who is in the final year of his current deal, as a part of their plans moving forward.

"We also know that Bill Armstrong and the Coyotes have defined the direction they are going in and that will not include Phil Kessel," said Dreger on Insider Trading.

As I stated it seems like it is only a matter of time before Kessel ends up playing for one team or another, and it would appear as though teams around the league are already starting to keep an eye on the situation. Just this week Craig Morgan reported having seen 15 NHL scouts on hand when the Coyotes faced off against the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, a sign that some teams may be looking to move early.

Trading Kessel will be easier said than done however. The reality of the situation is that he still carries a cap hit of $6.8 million in the flat cap era of the NHL, a cap hit large enough that it will make him difficult to move regardless of how much all parties may want to get a deal done.

Kessel may also have a relatively difficult time showcasing his skillset on this Coyotes team given just how much the team has struggled out of the gate. In spite of that he has managed to collect 3 points in his first 5 games of the season, not a bad showing when you consider the fact that the Coyotes are 0-4-1 to start the season with a -17 goal differential in just 5 games.