In a trade that just broke, the Devils have sent forward Blake Coleman packing to Tampa Bay. Darren Dreger broke the news on Twitter. The details quickly followed.

That’s a haul for a good player which Coleman is. He definitely should help the Lightning, who have been on fire lately. They’re going for it. So, it makes sense. They parted with forward prospect Nolan Foote. Only 19, he’s one of the sons of former NHL defenseman Adam Foote. He had three goals and two assists for Canada in winning the gold medal at the World Junior Championship.

The Lightning took the younger brother of defense prospect Cal Foote in the first round of last year’s NHL Draft. He went number 27. The Devils did quite well today getting a first round pick, a second for Andy Greene, and a former first round draft pick in Foote for Coleman.

They have just sped up their rebuild. Coleman is on a great contract with an average cap hit of $1.8 million through 2021. The 28-year old has totaled 43 goals when you combine last year and this one. He had 21 goals with 10 assists in 57 contests this season. A solid penalty killer, Coleman has nine shorthanded goals since ’17-18. He has three this year.

Coleman definitely is a good addition for the Lightning, who seem more equipped to win the Stanley Cup this time. Adding the hard checking Coleman to Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat, Yanni Gourde, Pat Maroon and Cedric Paquette makes them much tougher to play against. With headliners Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Bolts now look like the clear favorite to win the Cup.

It’s a great job from interim Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald and Martin Brodeur to get the strong return they did for two expendable players that weren’t going to be in Newark long-term. My guess is they’ll look to lock up leading finisher Kyle Palmieri this summer and make him the next captain. If not, they can get a lot back for him. Especially if Lou Lamoriello comes calling for either him or Travis Zajac.

I’m sure Hasan will have more. The Devils lead the Blue Jackets 3-2 after two periods.