Coyotes at Sharks preview

Hall and forward Blake Speers were acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils for two conditional draft picks and three prospects Monday. He will play on the first line with center Christian Dvorak and right wing Phil Kessel.

The Sharks are 1-5-1 in their past seven games after going 11-2-0 in their previous 13. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 on Saturday to give Bob Boughner his first win since replacing Peter DeBoer as coach Dec. 11.

Players to watch

Coyotes forward Clayton Keller leads Arizona in scoring on the road with 13 points (five goals, eight assists).

Sharks center Joe Thornton is two assists from tying Adam Oates (1,079) for seventh in NHL history and 10 points from 1,500.

They said it 

"He's great off the rush. He's a give-and-go guy, can play both sides of the flank on the power play. He's got the breakaway speed, so we'll find some spots for him." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet on Taylor Hall

"Arizona's a team that's obviously picked up a pretty good player in the last 24 hours and has one of the best road records (11-4-3) in the NHL. They're a fast team. We're going to have to be ready. It's a big game for us." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner

Coyotes projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Phil Kessel

Clayton Keller -- Carl Soderberg -- Nick Schmaltz

Lawson Crouse -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza

Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Conor Garland

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Ilya Lyubushkin

Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski

Aaron Ness -- Jordan Oesterle

Darcy Kuemper

Adin Hill

Scratched: Robbie Russo, Christian Fischer

Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson (fractured fibula), Jason Demers (lower body), Antti Raanta (illness)

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Logan Couture -- Timo Meier

Tomas Hertl -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc

Marcus Sorensen -- Barclay Goodrow -- Patrick Marleau

Noah Gregor -- Dylan Gambrell -- Melker Karlsson

Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson

Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns

Mario Ferraro - Tim Heed

Aaron Dell

Martin Jones

Scratched: Antti Suomela

Injured: Dalton Prout (upper body), Radim Simek (knee)

Status report

The Coyotes held an optional skate. … With Raanta sick, Hill was recalled on an emergency basis. ... Suomela was activated after missing eight games with an undisclosed injury. … The Sharks reassigned forward Joachim Blichfeld to San Jose of the American Hockey League. … Simek will join a full practice later this week. He is possible for the weekend but will more likely be held out until after the Christmas break.

Stat pack

Arizona's 82 goals-against are tied with the Boston Bruins for the third-fewest in the NHL behind the New York Islanders (72) and Dallas Stars (80). … Marleau is seven points from 1,100 as a member of the Sharks.