4 Things We Learned From New Jersey Devils Exit Interviews

3. Damon Severson is willing to talk contract extension

The New Jersey Devils love having Damon Severson on the roster. He’s someone who should be in the second line, but he can jump to the first line when the team needs him. He hit career highs in quite a few categories this season, including assists, points, power-play points, TOI, and takeaways. He was doing a little bit of everything on the ice.

Is that to say Severson was good this season? That is complicated. On the average shift, he’s phenomenal. He is incredibly consistent at playing well in his own zone, and he provides offense at 5v5. Here’s the issue, when he has a bad shift, it’s demonstrably bad. He’s been directly to blame for goals this season because of the mistakes he made. He’s even knocked the puck in his own net too many times.

That makes the entire Damon Severson experience complicated. Here’s the thing, it’s still better having Severson on the roster than it is not having him in New Jersey. He’s a phenomenal second-pairing defenseman, and he really lifted Jonas Siegenthaler up, turning him into one of the best defensive defensemen in the league this season.

This is the second year in a row where Severson found himself a partner, and he became the most popular partner for head coach Lindy Ruff. Severson and Siegenthaler was by far the most popular pairing this season. They played 618 minutes at 5v5 this season, more than 100 more than any other pairing according to Natural Stat Trick. Last season, Severson and Ty Smith led the team in minutes together.

We went on this Severson rant just to say Severson is open to contract talks this offseason. He says he wants to stay here, but he’s just waiting for his phone to ring. He calls it “out of his hands”.