New Jersey Devils: Grading Damon Severson’s Up And Down Year

The New Jersey Devils have had many up and down moments from their young defenseman Damon Severson. Where does he go from here?

Not many New Jersey Devils players, especially defensemen, can claim that they even had an okay season. Well, Damon Severson can whether fans want to admit it or not. He makes a lot of mistakes in his own end that need to get fixed, but the offense he is able to create does not grow on trees. Finding players who can move the puck up the ice the way he can is not easy.

People will look at the time that he accidentally scored on his own net to give the Toronto Maple Leafs the victory in overtime. That was obviously a major mistake, but he did have eight goals and 23 assists for 31 points in 69 games played for New Jersey. The production he puts up in the offensive end is certainly not bad. Those 31 points led Devils defensemen and second place was Will Butcher who only had 21, followed by P.K. Subban who had 18.

Severson might not have the biggest amount of love from the fanbase but people need to learn that a lot of the time, it takes time for a defenseman. They need more time than forwards to adjust to the NHL level and it makes people want to give up on them quicker. Well, if Severson can keep things up at the rate he’s going, he should be able to be an NHL defenseman for a long time. He might not be a number one defenseman or even a number two but if you can have him somewhere in the top-four, that would be great.

The Devils should be concerned with putting the talent needed around Severson for him and the team to take the next step. P.K. Subban hasn’t worked out yet but guys like Ty Smith and Kevin Bahl hope that they can come in and be a part of the blue line for a long time. Severson deserves his chance to be one of the key pillars on the team. His 2019-20 season wasn’t as good as his 2018-19 season but we can hope for somewhere in the middle.

Damon Severson might get an F from some people, but he actually deserves a C. He doesn’t deserve a higher grade because of how bad he was at times in his own end. He also doesn’t deserve a lower grade because of the offensive numbers that he put up. Severson is right there in the middle with more room to improve but enough of a resume to believe in him.