Pucks and Pitchforks
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New Jersey Devils: Case For And Against Trading Each Defenseman

By Nick Villano

OTTAWA, ON - JANUARY 27: Ottawa Senators Left Wing Brady Tkachuk (7) and New Jersey Devils Defenceman P.K. Subban (76) fight during the second period of the NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and the New Jersey Devils on January 27, 2020 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Steven Kingsman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON - JANUARY 27: Ottawa Senators Left Wing Brady Tkachuk (7) and New Jersey Devils Defenceman P.K. Subban (76) fight during the second period of the NHL game between the Ottawa Senators and the New Jersey Devils on January 27, 2020 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Steven Kingsman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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New Jersey Devils Damon Severson
(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

The Pros Of Trading Damon Severson

If the New Jersey Devils would probably get more for Damon Severson than any other defenseman on the team. He has term, he is still very young relatively, and teams covet good right-handed defensemen. Severson is someone other teams covet, and they could pay handsomely for him.

Now, the question is, what is handsomely? Many Devils fans talk about calling the Toronto Maple Leafs and asking about Kasperi Kapanen, but that just doesn’t seem like enough. Other teams are going to be offering other young forwards to get themselves a young defenseman.

Severson is not having a good season by all accounts, but it’s also not as bad as it seems. Yes, Severson has made some detrimental mistakes that make fans pull their hair out, but looking at his season and stats from 30,000 feet, we see that he’s playing on the power play over Will Butcher and he’s had some game-changing plays. Basically, he’s inconsistent.

The other thing is him and Vatanen basically overlap. They are different players in style, yes, but they both best fill that second-line, right-handed defenseman role. If the Devils want to re-sign Vatanen, it seems like keep Severson is a bad idea overall, especially if they are spending over $10 million to do it.

The Cons Of Trading Damon Severson

The pros and cons might overlap, as Severson is still a very valuable defenseman. Just last year, Severson as the best blue liner on the roster. He had a great season on a terrible team, and it actually had a lot of people calling for the Devils trading Vatanen in the offseason. He may be inconsistent, but most second-line defensemen are.

He’s already signed for three more seasons at just $4.16 million per year. His base salary is rising in each season, but the Harris-Blitzer group has more money than anyone knows what to do with, so as long as the cap hit is low it’s great. Also, we don’t even know if some of these defensive prospects are going to work out. Reilly Walsh might not sign, Ty Smith left much to be desired in the preseason (although we’re not sure that mattered), Michael Vukojevic is far from NHL ready, like really far, Kevin Bahl is big, and that’s all we really know so far. Replacing a 25-year-old defenseman for a forward when the cupboard is bare may be a really bad idea.

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