New Jersey Devils: What’s Going On With Damon Severson?

Recently I took a look at what we can expect from the Devils defense next year.  The cornerstone of the New Jersey Devils defense as it currently stands is Damon Severson. Severson is currently an RFA, and although he’s been tendered he remains unsigned. 

Damon Severson was arguably the Devils best defenseman last year.  While the teams defense overall performed extremely poor, he was the lone bright spot.

Defensive dominoes are falling all over the league with Jacob Slavin signing a 7 year $37 million deal and Brett Pesce signing for 6 years and $24 million.

As you can see from the chart above Severson posts similar numbers to those players and the Colorado Avalanche’s Tyson Barrie.  His biggest issue is a lack of ice time.  He gets more offensive zone starts than either Pesce or Slavin

What could Severson’s contract look like and what is the likely hold up?

If Severson and the Devils were looking for a bridge deal its likely that it would have already happened. The deal probably would have been around two years and carried a $3 million AAV.  However, with how long this deal is taking its much more likely the Devils are looking to lock up Severson long term.

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With Slavin signing for an AAV of $5.3 million and Pesce at $4.025, one must assume Severson will end up somewhere in the middle of those two numbers.  He didn’t log the same ice time as either. If the Devils are going to lock Severson up for 6-7 years it will be with the expectation that he’s going to play 1^st pair minutes.

The issue is that both sides are taking a risk.  The Devils are betting that Severson will take the next step and be worth the term and money.  On the other hand, Severson could cost himself millions depending on how the next two seasons go, but it is a safer deal for him.

Ideally, the Devils lock Severson up for around 6 years and somewhere in the $4-4.5 million range.  While they would be overpaying for next year the deal would be an absolute steal by years 5 and 6.

Severson is already extremely close to producing like a 1^st pair defenseman.  If he’s given the ice time he’s lacking we can expect he’ll make the jump.  Severson is a huge piece of the Devils future success and its time to get him locked up.