New Jersey Devils Trade Damon Severson To Columbus

The New Jersey Devils were going to have a busy offseason ahead. It certainly started off with a bang as the Devils make the second sign-and-trade in NHL history, sending defenceman Damon Severson to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Damon Severson is joining the #CBJ in a sign-and-trade with #NJDevils after agreeing to an eight-year contract, per sources.

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Another pending UFA comes off CJ's Big Board.@NorthStarBet @TSNHockey @sdpnsports

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 9, 2023

As part of the deal, Severson signed an eight-year contract extension with the Blue Jackets worth $50 million. The contract carries a salary cap hit of $6.25 million.

Damon Severson and NJ are working on a sign and trade to Columbus. 8x$6.25M

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 9, 2023

The deal includes a $10.8 million signing bonus over the length of the contract.

UFA RD Severson 8 year $6.25M Cap Hit #NJDevils #CBJ
Yr 1/2: 6M Salary 2M SB
Yr 3: 5.5M & 2M SB
Yr 4: 4.1M & 2M SB
Yr 5: 3.3M & 1.8M SB
Yr 6: 4.1M & 1M SB
Yr 7/8: 5.1M

Yr 1-4 No Trade, Yr 5 20 team, Yr 6-8 12 team

Rep'd by Jason Davidson @tcnewsfeedhttps://t.co/q9OjC8owOd https://t.co/eNcEU50ycu

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) June 9, 2023

Damon Severson Off To Columbus

Some may say this is an overpayment for a third-pairing guy, but in New Jersey, he was showing he could be effective anywhere in the lineup.

The arrival of Dougie Hamilton in the 2021-22 season and John Marino in the 2022-23 season sent Severson down the lineup. He was finally slotted right, similar to when Hamilton was brought in during P.K. Subban‘s final year as a member of the New Jersey Devils. Subban wasn’t a top-four guy in his career anymore. It was similar with Severson, but he has shown in the playoffs he could be very effective despite what people thought of him and his play on the ice.

Severson was a free agent at the end of the season and the Devils had a tough decision to make on their back end. The emergence of Luke Hughes made either Ryan Graves or Severson expendable, not to mention 2022 first round and second overall pick Simon Nemec in the system and most likely playing next season. There were spots on the right side open, and Nemec was just named to the AHL Top Prospects Team for the 2022-23 season.

We know what Severson said last year during his media availability about how he was tired of losing and wanted to win. That mindset set the tone for this season and he showed he could be a leader. Whether you agree or disagree with the comments, he was right — the Devils needed to change their mindset and could not be satisfied any longer. Even still, the writing was on the wall; this was going to be his last season in New Jersey.

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The 60th overall pick from the 2012 NHL Draft and the longest-tenured member of the Devils recorded 263 points (58 goals and 205 assists) in 647 games. In addition, Severson made the playoffs twice with the Devils: once in 2018 and again in 2023. For his career in the playoffs, he recorded three points (one goal and two assists).

But, he was still an effective puck-moving defenceman. While his offence goes up and down, it is the passing ability the Blue Jackets are acquiring. What earned Severson the ire of Devils fans was his big costly mistake. It was going to happen. However, his underlying numbers are pretty good. Let’s be honest, outside of Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler, Severson was one of the Devils better defenceman in the playoffs.

However, the Devils were not going to re-sign Severson. Even with the $34 million in cap space, New Jersey and general manager Tom Fitzgerald had bigger priorities including re-signing RFAs Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier. And with Severson getting what was projected on the open market, the Devils just could not afford anywhere $6.1 million or beyond.

Fitzgerald got the blessing from the ownership to keep the team’s UFAs through the trade deadline because the team was in a position to win. If the Devils did not have the season they were having, Severson, Miles Wood, Graves, and Tomas Tatar were probably getting traded at the deadline.

As Russ Cohen noted a few weeks back on the Full Press NHL Podcast, the Devils never used Severson in the right way, was not being brought back, and was going to flourish with his new team. That new team is the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Columbus Reshaping The Blueline

As far as the Blue Jackets go, what a week for them. The future is bright for this team. First, they acquire Ivan Provorov from Philadelphia and now Severson to shore up the right side.

Peer into the future for #CBJ Top 4 👀
Werenski-Severson
Provorov-Jiricek

Among the class defense corps of the #NHL now with Gudbranson, Peeke and Boqvist rounding out the group.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 9, 2023

Elliotte Friedman had linked Severson to the Blue Jackets. Columbus had been calling about Damon Severson before the Provorov trade. Many thought the deal for Provorov would take them out of the running for Severson. It did not.

Friedman on 32TP says CBJ called the Devils asking about Damon Severson, they were out looking for D with term eventually they ended up with Provorov. Also there were rumours out there connecting them to Orlov, Jarmo is being aggressive in his pursuit of defencemen.

— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) June 7, 2023

Columbus was one of the worst teams defensively last season. The addition of Severson and Provorov will help, not to mention the addition of Mike Babcock as head coach. The Blue Jackets may not make the playoffs next season, but they are a tougher out for sure. The future is bright in Columbus.

As for the Devils, they still have work to do with Bratt and Meier as far as contracts go. You were losing Severson’s money, anyway. Wood and Graves are most likely gone as well, so there is money to use on Bratt and Meier. But, it will be tough to keep them in the salary hierarchy.