We have our first big-name player on the move via trade this year, and it finally feels like we are in the heart of the NHL season. For those that may not know, Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils was dealt to the surging Arizona Coyotes for a surplus of younger players as well as a few draft picks. As has been seen this year the Devils have not been very good, which has been a shock to many NHL fans. With New Jersey making a move of this nature it shows they may be the first team that has decided to be a seller this year, and that may be a struggle for any fantasy owner that has players tied to them. On the other hand, an owner that bet on the Arizona Coyotes this year has to be feeling pretty smart, and Taylor Hall is only going to make the team better along with any Arizona players you may have placed stock in.

Let’s do a short profile on the Coyotes and then we will get to some players. Arizona sits as the second-ranked team in the conference with a differential of +13 in goals. They also sit second with only 84 goals against in 35 games. Still not convinced? As of right now, they are tied at the top of the standings in the Pacific Division with 42 points along with the Edmonton Oilers. Also, as mentioned, they just added Taylor Hall.

Buy

Phil Kessel (RW – ARI)
He only has 19 points this year, however, 11 of them are on the power play which is always a positive. The team, now adding an explosive player is primed to start scoring more. With the addition of Hall, Kessel will see a jump in assists, goals, and powerplay points. It’s hard to see any other outcome but the Coyotes making a great run this year and Kessel will be the reason they do so. He has three goals and two assists over the last 10 games which seems to be on the low end for what another owner may ask for him, but buy now and add the points to your starting lineup.

Jonathan Huberdeau (LW – FLA)
It goes without saying that this will be a difficult player to pry away from any owner, and to be honest with all of you I have him on a couple of my teams and really don’t know if I would give him up. If there is any possibility of you giving up depth to gain this player it should be done. Huberdeau has four points in his last five, and 11 in his last 10. Florida is a team that has been consistent all year and they are tied third overall in the NHL in goals for. It may be shocking to find out that in Yahoo leagues he is owned three percent less than his teammate Aleksander Barkov. They have similar stats with Huberdeau leading in overall points by one. In all fairness, many experts can be cited suggesting to draft him higher than his ADP at the beginning of the year. I sure did.

Mark Scheifele (C – WPG)
My confession on Scheifele is that I wanted to talk to you the reader about him at the end of November and I hope I’m not late. Heading into December the Jets had one of the most favorable schedules in the league with eight games at home out of thirteen, majority of those against bottom-ranked teams. The unfavorable matchups come at the end of the month with a home and home against St. Louis, and then traveling to Colorado. With all of that being said Scheifele has been posting monster numbers with nine points in his last five, and an amazing 13 in the last 10. The January slate looks very similar without all the home games so I would say he might be someone to gamble on now, especially if he has a few more runs like this.

Sell

Tyler Toffoli (LW/RW – LAK)
I will continue to be hard on the Kings this year. They are at the bottom of the league as a team this year and it’s not looking up anytime soon. Toffoli’s saving grace is he could be on the trading block when the Kings sell off the team at the deadline. Every team has fantasy value, that much is true, and Toffoli has eight points in his last 10 games, but seven of those have come in the last four games which means 35% of his points on the year have come in those four games. This is a classic sell high, and with the Kings starting a stretch where they run into top teams every other game I would even go as far to say sell everyone on Kings, except Kopitar.

As always, friends, have fun.

Mat Vilcek is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Mat, follow him @Mat1Thockey.