New Jersey Devils: Faith In Damon Severson Is Gone Among Fans
By Nick Villano
New Jersey Devils defenseman Damon Severson was once the future of this team’s blue line. Now, fans want him traded after a rough season.
Coming in to the season, we thought adding P.K. Subban would do great things to address the problem that was this defense. Adding him to a right side that included Sami Vatanen, Damon Severson and Connor Carrick. The New Jersey Devils had some of the best names of any right side in the league. The left side was still a little weak, but if the right side could do a little heavy lifting, then the defense seemed like it would be fine as a whole.
Well, we know how this season went. We are all here, watching these games two to three times per week. On Thursday, the defense was as big a let down as its been all season long. They let Mackenzie Blackwood out to dry against the New York Rangers of all teams. This team is supposed to rise up against our rivals, but instead they let Tony Deangelo score a hat trick of all players. The only good news is maybe the Rangers will now give him a big contract that puts them in a salary cap problem.
The most disappointing of those defenseman was Damon Severson. While he wasn’t the worst defenseman on the ice, he’s the one we expect a lot more from.
Severson has been having a really bad go of it lately. Just a couple weeks ago, he literally scored the game-winning goal for the other team in overtime. It was a mistake, yes, but it was one that felt like it should be punished. Maybe sitting him for one game might have changed things, but to be fair he did bounce back.
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He scored the winning shootout goal against the Boston Bruins, a team they can never seem to beat. Even in 2012, when they went to the Stanley Cup Finals, they were terrible against the Bruins that year. Yet, for one glorious night, Severson gave us the win.
That can’t make us blind to what we are seeing right now. Interim head coach Alain Nasreddine is putting Severson with Vatanen, who before the last game was playing better than any other defender on the team. They were both recorded the worst CF% at 5v5 against the Rangers. Now, it could be that Vatanen was not in a place to carry a line, or maybe Severson could just about tank anyone.
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Things are so bad, fans have been emailing the man who runs the hockey division of FanSided. That’s right, one fan was so mad with how Damon Severson has been playing, they contacted the man in charge just to vent. It’s not like we don’t understand. This is a player that’s signed for three more years after this one. He’s the Devils player with the longest contract not named Nico Hischier.
Can Severson get it back? Maybe. He did it last season. For some reason, Severson was much better last year when everything else was falling apart. The problem is it seems like he’s good every other year. That kind of inconsistency is hard to be tied to. Honestly, Vatanen seems like a player that the Devils need a little more, but his contract is ending at the end of the season. The Devils have a major decision to make. With Subban here for two more years, and both Vatanen and Severson naturally on the right side, it’s hard to imagine they can commit to both.
The fans will come around if Severson does. They will eventually come to love him with a string of five good games. He needs to put them together, because the trade deadline is on the horizon.