Report: New Jersey Devils Trade Blake Coleman, But We Aren’t Sure
By Nick Villano
The fire sale on Sunday continues as the New Jersey Devils traded Blake Coleman to the Colorado Avalanche, according to reports.
Update 7:45 p.m.: Our rapid reaction to the Blake Coleman trade here.
UPDATE 7:20 p.m.: Darren Dreger reports the Devils have officially traded Blake Coleman to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for 1st-round pick Nolan Foote and Vancouver Canucks 1st rounder they got in the J.T. Miller trade. We will update with our full thoughts in it’s own article.
UPDATE 5:13 p.m.: It sounds like whatever the trade is going to be, we are not going to hear what it is until after the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Good luck focusing on the game, but at least we get to watch Nick Merkley again.
UPDATE 4:53 p.m.: Our own Tyler Kelley is reporting Boston Bruins are actually the team that’s traded for Blake Coleman. Jimmy Murphy with Boston Hockey Now says that the Bruins, Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers are all in on Coleman right now. There may even be a fourth team. It sounds like it’s confirmed that he has been traded. For who and where is still up in the air as of now.
ORIGINAL: The New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche were tied in rumors for Taylor Hall back in December, and despite our own sources saying that the deal would be done within a week, it seems like the Arizona Coyotes came in at the 11th hour and took Hall for a return of a 1st-round pick and three prospects. Now, it looks like Tom Fitzgerald chose to come back around to the Avalanche for a Blake Coleman trade.
However, as of right now, we are getting conflicting reports. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports says that it’s a done deal between the Devils and Avalanche. Abbey Mastracco of NorthJersey.com says the Devils have not traded Coleman to the Avalanche, but didn’t say whether it happened to another team or not.
There isn’t much more to say until we see whether it is happening or not and what we are getting in return. There are reports it’s a 1st-round pick, while others are connecting the dots to say that Coleman’s wife is pregnant, but our sources say that is likely not it. We will continue to update this article periodically to get you up the date information.