Blue Jackets Acquire Defensemen Damon Severson

The Blue Jackets continued their offseason overhaul with their third big splash of the week by acquiring defensemen Damon Severson from the New Jersey Devils.

The Blue Jackets traded a 3rd round pick (80th overall) in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft to New Jersey in a sign-and-trade for Severson. That 3rd round pick was originally owned by Calgary and was part of the return in the Oliver Bjorkstrand trade to Seattle last summer. Severson agreed to an 8-year, $6.25 million AAV contract with the CBJ.

Severson was one of the more coveted UFA’s this summer. But with the sign-and-trade, he is now off of the market. Severson is a sturdy, all-around defender. He is not going to score a lot of goals but can move the puck fairly well. He has posted 58 goals, 205 assists, and 263 points in 647 career games. One intriguing thing about Severson is that he has never missed more than 10 games in a full NHL season. That means that he is good at staying healthy. As many CBJ fans recall, injuries plagued the team last season. Hopefully Severson can continue to stay healthy and help this team.

The addition of Provorov and Severson has already altered the CBJ defense, which now looks like this:

1st pair: Werenski – Severson

2nd pair: Provorov – Boqvist

3rd pair: Bean – Gudbranson

Extras: Peeke, Blankenburg, Jiricek

The blue line has drastically improved in one week’s time. However, it’s a crowded blueline. That is nine NHL-caliber defensemen vying for six spots. Something must give. It is likely that David Jiricek will be ready for NHL minutes this season, so I would pencil him in to the top six. That means that likely one or two of Peeke, Bean, Gudbranson, Blankenburg, and/or Boqvist may not be returning to the team this upcoming season. Is it possible that the Blue Jackets can package one or two of them in a trade to help the team elsewhere? Possibly to bring in an upgrade at center?

The Blue Jackets began this week with the leaked news that Mike Babcock would be named the new head coach. Just a couple days later, news broke that the Blue Jackets had acquired defensemen Ivan Provorov from the Philadelphia Flyers.  Now the news of the acquisition of Severson. The Blue Jackets are being aggressive in making changes. Jarmo has made it clear that last season was not acceptable and that making the playoffs is the primary target. Expect the team to not be done. The center ice position still needs some reinforcements and the backup goaltender position needs addressed.

The Blue Jackets now have $5.8 million in cap space with 23 players signed. The team has an abundance of wingers and extra defensemen (as stated earlier). Expect Jarmo to continue to make moves and adjust this roster. The offseason of change has only just begun.