The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Damon Severson’s Season With The Columbus Blue Jackets
Damon cson had some ups and some Downs in his first season as a blue jacket were there more UPS or more Downs we’re going to talk about that and his future on the team on today’s lock on Blue Jackets your locked on Blue Jackets your daily podcast on the Columbus Blue Jackets part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello and welcome to lock on Blue Jack it’s part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day I am as always your host Jay Foster here to give you the Good the Bad and the Ugly about your favorite team and M the Columbus Blue Jacket also want to let you know today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more because right now new customers are going to get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet just visit fanduel.com locked on today to get started now like I said at the top of the show we’re going to be talking all about Damon Severson today we’re going to look at his season we’re going to look at his contract um we’re going to look at the trade and sign that sent him to Columbus and we’re going to take a look at what his future could be on the team what it should be on the team and uh probably some potential defense partners for next season so uh let’s let’s kick this off uh Damon Severson came over from the New Jersey Devils where he’d been playing for the past I think nine Seasons uh first season with Columbus he played 67 games had nine goals 19 assists for 28 points and uh played an average of 21 minutes and 8 seconds um these are the this is the fewest games he’s played in a full season since his rookie season um which then that was one something I wanted to touch on which was I know that when blue Jack went out and they acquired Severson and proov um it was partially due to the fact that the Blue Jackets couldn’t stay healthy on the blue line all season last season everyone or not last season the season before last season um everyone was broken all of the time and I know that when they acquired guys like Pro Rob and Severson they came out and they said listen they’re both durable guys um they don’t spend a lot of time injured and that’s important to us um and then Damon cson came and in his first season with the Blue Jackets uh missed like 15 like he only missed 15 games In fairness I think there was an oblique injury I want to say um or like an abdominal injury or something like midbody and weird um um but cursed just another just another example of the Blue Jackets being cursed maybe his number was too close to 27 uh it’s not it’s 78 uh which is almost 27 backwards but also not even a little bit um for some reason on my head I was like yeah he wore 26 this season he didn’t he wore uh 78 but Damon Severson I thought had a decent season uh injury curse getting him not withstanding um 10 goals or just shy of 10 goals for a defenseman is pretty good especially on a team like the Blue Jackets where um the defenseman just didn’t just didn’t score um this season like at all um looking at defensive scoring um wensy had 11 goals cson had nine gab Branson had six proov had five Bean had four boist had one Urich had one blankenberg had one and that was it you know um Dak Ry was the only guy to hit double digits uh so see Wason coming close to that um I thought was good 29 points for a defenseman was on the low side of things in terms of like his career but not like stupidly low last season he had 33 points in 81 games the season before that he had 46 points in 80 games um and then you know before that there was there was a it was kind of an up and downish season um but he was about what I expected him to be I think is is kind of my my overarching conclusion to like what I liked about his season um he is he kind of he was he was exactly what was advertised by you know when when they traded for him I went I asked a couple of of smart Devils fans and Devil’s people like hey what should we expect from Damon cson and the consensus would was basically pretty good offensive defenseman will occasionally just blue screen entirely in his brain and make a dumb boneheaded move that costs the team a goal um and that was basically what he was he was he was a perfectly acceptable defens offensive defenseman um that very occasionally his brain would just turn off and reboot and his controller would disconnect and I don’t like it was it was wild like every other G like the rest of the game he would be absolutely fine but there was I I lost track of how many games where he would just Mak the the stupidest boneheaded play and then go back and and nothing was wrong and it just it made absolutely no sense to me I know he got benched for a game I don’t remember it was like early on in the season and everyone was kind of like wow is this really happening um I feel like it was uh it looks like it was the third game of the season actually he only played 1157 I feel like he got benched for the third um the entire third period after like blowing coverage in the second period on a couple of goals um but like I said for the most part he was he was fine he didn’t blow me away but he was fine um I thought he was he didn’t really ever find his footing in terms of like having a defense partner is the thing he kind of bounced around a lot he was mostly with um wensy on the top line or proov on the second line um occasionally it was flip-flopped around he had a couple of other different um Partners but that was where he spent most of uh most of his time was with warnky and with proov um he played 456 minutes with warnky and 456 minutes with proov so basically completely even uh which he played apparently 40 seconds more with rinsky and Severson um which is wild extremely funny um and then after that you have to go all the way down to uh he played 113 and a half minutes with uh at a boquist played 63 minutes with gab Branson 47 minutes with Bean 31 minutes with uh Ur 16 minutes with Jake Christiansen or 16 and a half minutes with Jake Christensen um so yeah the bulk of his work was with warnky and proov um I actually quite like the proov cson pairing probably more than the wensky sson pairing um I think cson and wensy were kind of too similar but serson and pro I thought worked pretty well together they seemed to understand each other um I thought that it wasn’t like an abject disaster when they were on the ice which you know the Blue Jackets defensive situation this season the best sometimes the best you can hope for is is wasn’t an abject disaster you know um so it’ll be interesting to see what happens next season because you want to see matchu make a good stab at making the team you want to see Ur on the team or I do anyway and maybe I’m in the minority there but I don’t think he learns anything with a third straight year in in the AHL um we don’t know what proov situation is going to be is he going to be on the team is he going to be trade bait like it’s not out of the realm a possibility that they move card I think it’s unlikely uh based on on that contract um and I think the team probably wants to keep him around but like I said it’s not like completely out of the realm of possibility you know um so we’ll see what happens with uh with cson in terms of like who he plays with next season things like that what his role on this team is going to be next season um uh we’ll talk about all of that in in a little bit next I want to talk a little bit about that contract actually um and the trade and sign and kind of all of the situations about Dam Stevenson coming to the Blue Jackets was it worth it do you know do I think the team regrets it things like that so we’ll talk about that in just a second here on lock on Blue Jackets first off i’ got to tell you all about FanDuel it’s going to take all time in the NBA in the NHL and FanDuel is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own right now new customers are going to get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet just bet $5 on anything you want find the heaviest favorite you possibly can if it wins you get $150 that you can bet on spread money line play player props and more and it doesn’t have to be the NBA or the NHL you can do it on golf you can do it on NASCAR you could probably do it on professional wrestling uh just visit fanduel.com lockon make every playoff shot count FanDuel is America’s number one sports book welcome back to lock on Blue Jacket we’re talking all about Damon Severson today we talked a about his season what I liked about it what I didn’t like about it um I want to talk a little bit about that contract because I don’t hate it I said at the time that I thought it was probably a million dollars too much and a year or two too long and I still believe that um he is making 6.25 million uh until the end of 2030 2031 he’s going to be I believe 36 or 37 by the time that deal is up I don’t think he finishes this deal in Columbus quite frankly um the cap going up helps a little bit so uh next year he’s going to be making 7.1% of the cap which is it sure is a number and again again I feel much better about the contract situation now that I figured out that Patrick L’s 8.7 is included in the current cap hit so they actually have the full 23 and a half million to resign all of the other guys um I don’t hate the contract I didn’t hate the move it was a third round pick the Devils used it to draft someone that I know nothing about um and so it wasn’t like they got some like it oh you know for my money anyway it wasn’t like they got some incredible steal with the third round uh once you get to the third round it’s basically a shot in the dark you know I talked about that a little bit yesterday when we talked about the uh talked about the 2019 draft and what a kind of a crapshoot it is from the third or fourth round onwards um I still don’t know that I would have made this move or you know and if I did I also wouldn’t have made the proov move you know I would have done one or the other um and I don’t know which one I probably would have made this if I had to choose one of them I probably would have been the serson move I liked his season better um the trade they gave up less obviously because it was for an expiring UFA but then I don’t love that they turned around and gave him eight full seasons um that’s it’s a lot of seasons for someone who’s already 29 years old you know um but without that without that contract without that that presence on defense the defensive system would be even would have been even worse this year um arguably anyway because I still don’t think that if you even if they didn’t have seas and I don’t think e would have gotten any kind of significant time I think it probably would have resulted in Andrew Peak playing a lot more hockey and we all know how I feel about um about that uh my issue going forward is that between him and warnky both signed longterm wark’s the next Four Seasons see the next seven seasons um kab branton’s making 4 million for the next two seasons there’s you know there’s three defensemen locked up uh four if you count provs 4.7 cap hit five if you count boquist 2.6 cap hit um so there’s five defenseman that you’ve got under contract for next season already Jake Bean is an RFA with uh arbitration rights Urich is going to be knocking on the door matok is going to be knocking on the door like potentially a guy like Jake Christensen is going to be knocking on the door a guy like Nick blankenberg uh who may or may not get resigned but like that’s a lot of money for someone who is going to be taking up a roster spot in the top four probably for at least the next Four Seasons when you have a bunch of guys that I think are going to be maybe not ready this this year I’m not saying that you know EUR and mug are ready to have as much of an impact as a guy like severon does like in this October immediately but in the next Four Seasons I think he’s going to be taking up a top four spot in lie of someone younger with a higher ceiling and the blue jackers are going to have to figure out a way to get around that um which worries me a little bit uh because as much as I liked daav and cuson season and I didn’t like it all that much but it was you know he was one of the better defenseman on a a truly miserable defensive team don’t think I’d liked him enough to keep him around for the next seven seasons making over $6 million and effectively blocking someone like David urich’s path to that top four you know um because right now it looks like the top four is going to be warnky Severson proov boquist next season and then gab Branson will be on that third pairing and then you know again we haven’t even talked about Ur matchu uh do they bring Bean back like a lot of moving Parts hard to know obviously Don woodell is is coming in and getting to know all of the the players watching all of the tape has been watching you know he’s been in the Metro for basically as long as cson has been playing hockey so he’s probably pretty familiar with him as a player you know but I don’t know what bell is going to do about this blue line because he’s gone on record as saying you know there’s probably going to be half a dozen new faces in the lineup next season is David Stevenson going to be one of the guys that is on the way out for a new face seems unlikely again I don’t think that contract is particularly tradable unless you give something up as well as but I could I could see a world where the Blue Jackets don’t have Damon cson in the lineup next season um I I’m not like super enthusiastic about about that I’m also not like super depressed about that I I feel extremely average about Damon Severson if he’s here fine if he’s not here also fine you know he’s not for me anyway he’s not a make or break player in the way that he was talked about when he was picked up by the Blue Jackets last summer obviously there was that that sign and trade because they really wanted to get that eighth year out of SE seon and they didn’t I guess didn’t want to risk another team swooping in and giving him a better offer for the full seven years um but it’s just it’s a lot of money for and again it felt a little bit like one of kon’s not necessarily Panic moves but maybe Panic maybe it is panic moves maybe I’m I’m tired of hedging around the the fact that it was probably a panic move it was kakine wanted to make the playoffs this season and thought paying too much for too long for an older defenseman was the way to do that um and now here we are so I don’t think he was worth the contract I don’t think he was worth picking up maybe maybe he’ll turn like again under a different system under a different coach maybe we’ll see I he looked really good not last season but the season before his last season with um New Jersey uh he he looked better defensively than he has for a lot of his career the season before that he looked better offensively for most of it than he has done for most of his career hit career highs and everything but wasn’t like great on the other side of the puck so like if they can get back to you know a happy medium of maybe getting like if they can get 40 to 50 points out of Damon cson next season I feel fine about that but again like the biggest thing for me is that contract blocking young defensive prospects them stagnating in the AHL eventually getting tired eventually wed to go somewhere else and you know Like Ur and matuk are still extremely young like I don’t think either of them have turned 20 yet I’m just double-checking my uh my my math on that David Ur has turned 20 deuk is still only 19 um but my point still stands you know I wonder what the the progression to NHL player could look like for G like stanislav fosil if you’re if um C approv hadn’t been brought on you know or a guy like J Christenson who was looking really promising over the past handful of years and then suddenly his his path is blocked you know so that’s again it’s it’s not a lot of my issues this season have not been with the players themselves it’s been with the management and the coaching you know and it’s not Damon severson’s fault that he was traded here and signed like a long-term deal what was he supposed to say no don’t sign me for that many years for that much money I’ll take less money for fewer years you know um of course he’s going to do that and you know I think the pay the players should always get as much money as they possibly can I’m always going to you know respect that it’s gonna it frustrates me obviously and I’ve been you know fairly vocal about how I think that you know Eric Branson’s contract was too much for too long etc etc etc um but I I’m I’m frustrated with kinan for making the move not necessarily with cuson for coming here and not immediately being you know a a top pairing defenseman I think if if we all kind of and I’m kind of mostly talking to myself a little bit here maybe is Damon Severson as a second pair defenseman I think is probably about as good as it’s going to get and I think we should all kind of adjust our expectations to that and I think everyone including me will be a lot happier about that um but we’ll see how the future goes we’ll see how how next season goes for Damon cson I want to talk about that a little bit coming up next here unlocked on Blue Jackets welcome back to lock on Blue Jackets we’re talking about Damon cson and we’re talk about his future on the team and like I said it’s extremely unlikely that he gets moved this summer not out of the realm of possibility but it you know for my money pretty darn unlikely um so the question becomes what do you do with Damon sson next season you know who do you pair in with do you keep that proov and cson pairing together is proov GNA be on the team if proov is not on the team like do you put cson with a guy like matuk and let cson play a little bit more defense or do you put him with a more shutdown guy you know do you do you pair him up with a I like I don’t know Eric Branson should not be a second pairing defenseman at this point in his career or you know potentially ever but do you put those two guys together you know that’s that’s two right defenseman but Branson being more of a shutdown guy for you know the given value of shutdown guy allows severon to be a little bit more offensively minded um I don’t think that warenski and cson is a pairing that works together I could see them trying at the start of the year but I do wonder if that se I I do wonder if next season that top four looks Something Like weny Ur matate Chuck Severson and then gab Branson and boquist maybe on on that bottom pairing um the problem is that bers have a lot of offensive defenseman and the problem is that David seon is probably like third or fourth in terms of offensive defenseman pure offensive defenseman on this team but he’s not a top two or three defensive defenseman either he’s just kind of really solidly in the middle and I think that makes it really difficult to kind of look at and project like okay what are we going to get from Damon Severson next season what who should we pairing with because you know do you PA him with an offensive guy and let him play more defensively do you pair him with a defensive guy and let him play more offensively like where where do you where do you put him you know or do you put him with another two-way guy and just hope that it works out okay um and In fairness it did work out okay this season like if Pro’s on the team next season I’m pretty sure that those two guys will probably get slaughtered together again it was the least disastrous That proov season was when he was with serson um but there’s just I don’t know there’s there’s no way to know again I feel like I’ve said that in like every season reviewers like well I would put these players together and these players together and maybe do this and this but also I don’t know who’s going to be on the team next season obviously Don woodell in it’s going to shake it up is Pascal Vincent going to be the coach next season we don’t know um and we probably won’t know for for a little while you know he’s only had the job for like a week um there was a report from someone yesterday uh or or the day before maybe it was Bob mceligot on his like Q&A mailbag thing he does on Mondays um about how Don woodell was meeting with Pascal Vincent this week we’ll see how those conversations go I’m sure there’ll be there’ll be Whispers getting out there although um someone pointed out that as soon as as caline left the organization the rumor mill in Columbus immediately died to death which I thought was very funny so maybe we won’t know until something happens but [Music] um I don’t know what the coaching staff is going to look like I don’t know what the defensive Corp is going to look like you know is is y going to be ready to be in the NHL or is he going to go back to the the AHL for a season is matuk uh going to make the team is he going to make you know choices difficult because that’s the other thing is you know it all it’s all really going to come down to I think the prospect Camp which is happening in uh in Buffalo in midt not in Travis City Michigan like it has for many years previous and then uh training camp proper and then the preseason I would imagine both EUR and matuk get the full nine games valuation at least and then they’ll go from there but again depends what happens at the draft in a couple of weeks it depends what happens in free agency it depends on what happens in trading through the summer coaching what does Don wadell think of this team like there’s there’s a lot of lot of moving parts so just to just to kind of wrap my my thoughts up a little bit my gut instinct is that cson is on the team next season I wouldn’t and my gut instinct is that I’m not necessarily upset about that I think they need to find the right partner because like I said he was pretty good with some guys and kind of a disaster with some other guys um he and G Branson again limited minutes but surprisingly surprisingly good uh Christenson was kind of a disaster weny was kind of a disaster uh boquist was kind of a disaster so like there’s again there’s lots of question marks there lots of uh figuring out to do but if Damon sevenson is on this team in October I’m not going to be too beaten up about it but they have to get that defense pairing right because again depth wins depth wins championships and if you can get a solid solid second pairing so you don’t have to play Zach rinsky for a bajillion minutes a game then that’s uh that feels like a win to me um that’s about all I’ve got for today uh I’ll be back tomorrow with an episode about uh we’ll talk a little bit more about um cuz someone asked me on YouTube about this uh so we’re going to do an episode about like the six to eight players that will be different on the team because that’s what Don woodell said when he was like listen we’re going to maybe see between six and eight new faces on this team this uh this October so we’re going to talk a little bit about like who might be on the Move who’s going to be who could be coming in uh things like that that’s going to be tomorrow’s episode of lockon Blue Jackets thank you for listening to today’s episode for making it your first listen of the day Lo blue jacket is free and available on all podcast platforms on YouTube and on SiriusXM uh you can find me on Twitter _ jaob Foster you can find the show at lore bluejackets on Twitter uh you can email me if you have comments questions criticisms at lockon Bluejacket gmail.com thank you for listening for making it your first listen of the day once again and uh until tomorrow make sure you stay locked on
Damon Severson had some ups and some downs in his first season in Columbus, but mostly good. Now the questions become how can he improve next season, who should his defence partner be, and was he worth his contract for year 1?
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