New Jersey Devils: Finding Blake Coleman’s Worth On The Trade Market

The New Jersey Devils season has been an absolute disaster. With Blake Coleman being one of the few players actually excelling, should the Devils sell high?

We are just a few weeks away from the NHL Trade Deadline. After the New Jersey Devils decided to fire Ray Shero, it put their future in flux. Following the Taylor Hall trade to the Arizona Coyotes, we were told this wasn’t going to be rebuild 2.0. Now, with the man in charge on to different pastures, how they are going to move forward with the trade deadline is up in the air.

The most valuable asset that the Devils might even be somewhat willing to part ways with could be Blake Coleman. Obviously, he’s not as valuable as Nico Hischier or Jack Hughes, but he’s right up there with Kyle Palmieri, and because he has term, he’s likely more valuable as Sami Vatanen.

That might sound pretty crazy, especially for someone who hasn’t watched him day in and day out like Devils fans have. However, for the first time, his counting stats are catching up to his on-ice impact. After scoring four goals in the last two games against the likes of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Washington Capitals, he has 19 goals and 27 totals points. Teams love a goal scorer at the deadline.

Coleman’s underlying numbers aren’t great, but there are when compared to the other Devils. His 5v5 CF% of 49.39 is only percentage points behind Nikita Gusev and Palmieri. Coleman has been racking up the chances as of late, especially on the penalty kill. What’s insane is despite the state of the Devils this season, and the fact that he’s on the penalty kill, Coleman has more high-danger chances overall in all strengths.

Now, what is Coleman worth on the trade market? That’s the million dollar question. Or, is it a 1st-round pick question?

To us, he’s worth a superstar’s bounty. However, as we’ve seen in trades across the league, players aren’t worth what we might think when we get to see them everyday.

That’s the issue here for other teams; the Devils absolutely don’t have to trade Coleman. This isn’t Hall, who was absolutely leaving in the offseason, and was worth a fortune. If teams offer up 3rd-round picks for Coleman, then he isn’t going anywhere. The only way Coleman is getting moved is if a team completely blows Tom Fitzgerald and the Devils’ owners socks off.

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So we must ask, would simply a 1st-round pick be enough? Coleman is someone who’s dominating for the Devils right now. He’s able to play as well against elevated competition. Not only that, his contract makes it ideal for a contender. He’s making $1.8 million a year this year and next. Just about every contender in the league could afford that, especially for what they are getting for Coleman.

At the end of the day, we just don’t think a team is going to be willing to pay the price it will take to pry Coleman from the Devils. The one team we’re really looking at is the Tampa Bay Lightning. They have two 1st-round picks after they sent J.T. Miller to the Vancouver Canucks. There are some very intriguing prospects they have coming up the pipeline (Maxim Cajkovic and Mitchell Stephens would be really intriguing). However, we don’t see the Lightning giving up a prospect AND a 1st-round pick.

However, we think that’s the Devils price. The price that teams would be willing to pay is a top-five prospect and a 2nd-round pick. Think about the deal the Devils sent to Nashville for P.K. Subban. None of us would be thrilled with that deal, so we expect Coleman to stay around, and honestly they should just extend him in the offseason.