It's safe to say that last year was Damon Severson's best as a Blue Jacket, scoring the most points in a season since the sign-and-trade that brought him to Columbus three years ago.
He also played very well defensively, showing great improvement both in his consistency and his chemistry with his teammates, especially the forwards.
Now that he has proven that he can be worth his $6.25 million cap hit, he just needs to replicate his success from last year and continue to adapt to an evolving forward group while the defenders remain unchanged.
Damon Severson brought stability to the top pair
After a rocky first two years in Columbus, Severson was able to work his way into a consistent top-pair role alongside Zach Werenski. He clearly thrived in this spot, and there's no reason not to run it back this season.
Out of every defensive pair in the NHL that played at least 250 minutes of ice time together, Werenski and Severson were first in expected goals percentage with 66.4% according to MoneyPuck.
The pair also created the second-most expected goals per 60 minutes while allowing the second-least expected goals per 60 minutes to opponents, so they were absolutely dominating on both ends of the ice analytically.
It wasn't all Werenski either, as Severson as an individual actually had a higher expected goals percentage with more expected for and less expected against per 60 minutes at even strength.
He also looked good individually on special teams, with his 94.4 expected goals percentage ranking first among defenders on the power play and his 19.1 percent first on the penalty kill. He didn't get much ice time in these situations, though, so the sample size is small.
Since Werenski is a lock for the top power play unit, and Denton Mateychuk is very deserving of more looks with the second group, it's hard to argue that Severson should be ahead of either of those guys, and I'm not a fan of having two defenders on the power play.
However, I think that Severson should absolutely play more on the penalty kill. Last year, he was sixth in ice time in 4-on-5 situations, behind both Werenski and Mateychuk by a wide margin.
Out of those six defenders, Severson allowed the least expected goals against on the PK, with his 5.24 per 60 minutes being almost half of Mateychuk's 10.74 and Werenski's 9.55.
With another year of poor team performance on the kill, I'd like to see something change. Bringing Gudbranson back helps, but getting Severson out there before Werenski and Mateychuk should be a priority based on his performance this past season.
If he gets that opportunity and maintains his spot on the top pair, I see no reason why he wouldn't put together another 30-point season while truly showcasing his underrated defensive value.
Maybe one good season has set my expectations too high, but he passed the eye test for me last year and his metrics back it up in a convincing way. Regardless, I can't wait to see if he can take advantage of this opportunity this year and play a role in guiding the Blue Jackets back into the playoffs.
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