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With absolutely nothing happening in the hockey world right now, and for the foreseeable future, I’ve decided to take the plunge and write player profiles for each member of the New Jersey Devils.
As was the case when I did them last summer, we’ll be looking at the season they just put together and expectations moving forward.
I’ve written up 13 players thus far, with John Hayden being the most recent.
Today we’re going with Damon Severson.
Counting stats: 69 games played, 31 points (eight goals, 23 assist), 22:58 average time on ice
5v5 underlyings: 1.01 points/60, +3.10 CF% Rel, -3.40 GF% Rel, +4.78 xGF% Rel, 97.8 PDO
2019-20 review: Damon Severson quietly put together a pretty solid campaign. He produced at a ~10 goal, 37-point pace on a team that couldn’t score. He was quite efficient at 5v5, recording points at a higher clip than the likes of Shea Theodore, Mark Giordano, Oscar Klefbom, John Klingberg and Drew Doughty.
On top of the solid offensive outputs, Severson once again drove play. The Devils’ share of the shots and chances was noticeably higher with Severson on the ice. He played a ton of minutes – generally against above average competition – so that is encouraging.
Unfortunately, there were a couple blemishes in his season:
1) Severson was on the ice for too many goals against. That’s not all his fault, though. Based on the shot volume and locations, the Devils were expected to concede 44.37 goals with Severson out there at 5v5. They gave up 60. Devils’ goaltenders drastically underperformed what would be expected from them, and that’s out of Severson’s control. All he can do is try to limit the danger of the shots. Once they’re off opposing player’s sticks, it’s all on the goaltenders. They didn’t give Severson much help and that made him look worse than he should have.
2) While I very much believe Severson was unlucky to be on for as many goals against as he was, I will admit he still made a few too many head scratching mistakes. They’re bound to happen when you play big minutes and your team is not good but, well, it’d be nice to see Severson do a better job of cutting down. That’s been a constant point of emphasis for coaches and fans in recent years. Severson will go stretches where he really seems to have turned the corner in that regard, only to have a period or game where he makes several of those mistakes and it feels like we’re back at square one.
All told, I think Severson did have a solid season. But there’s real potential for a great season if he can tidy things up a little more in the defensive zone.
Fun fact(s): Only 33 defenders recorded more 5v5 points and 17 of them played more minutes.
2020-21 outlook: I could see the Devils making fairly significant changes this off-season but I don’t imagine Severson will be going anywhere. Regardless of what you think of his defensive game, he is an above average offensive defender entering the prime of his career. He’s signed for three more seasons at a very affordable hit ($4.16M per) and New Jersey’s defense is clearly lacking talent. I doubt they’d be looking to subtract from that area.
I fully expect Severson to be on the Devils come October. Ideally, heading a 2nd pairing that can be spoon fed favorable zone starts and put in situations to contribute offensively.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com and hockey-reference.com
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