Player Discussion: Damon Severson

[ColumbusTrill]

Not sure how people can say we are rushing the rebuild when we have traded 0 prospects and given up 1 late first that wasn’t even ours to begin with. Acquiring good veteran players only helps the development of our young guys

 

[Long Live Lyle]

Yeah, 7 x 6.25 with four years of full NTC probably would have been his best offer in free agency.

So we paid a 3rd rounder for the privilege of committing to pay him that much when he's 36.

Then you might not get him. The extra year and the 3rd was the premium for the guarantee you land him. Tbh, if you value him enough to think he’s worth 7 x 6.25, then it’s worth the extra year and the 3rd round pick for the insurance/guarantee/comfort/[whatever term of your choice] that you get him.

 

[Crede777]

Not sure how people can say we are rushing the rebuild when we have traded 0 prospects and given up 1 late first that wasn’t even ours to begin with. Acquiring good veteran players only helps the development of our young guys

It rushes the rebuild because it makes it less likely we're a lottery team next year.

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, this is probably a bad move at least initially.

 

[ColumbusTrill]

It rushes the rebuild because it makes it less likely we're a lottery team next year.

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, this is probably a bad move at least initially.

I don't care, it was brutal enduring last season and in the end we didn't even get a top 2 pick. We are still going to get our franchise center in this draft. We got our franchise D last year. I'm ready to try to compete

 

[MissADD]

It's a good pickup, but lot of question marks:

-Term of the contract is insane
-Again others mentioned but he's likely a 2nd pairing guy who is likely going to be on our first pairing, with another offensive first dman
-Finally I hope he wants to be here. He was looking at UFA in a few weeks. Again I don't think there is much of a chance that he pulls a Jeff Carter but there must have been a concern for us to give up a 3rd just to make sure we had him

I mean he probably negotiated that deal with the with the Jackets. Its that tampering but not really tampering thing.

 

[stevo61]

It rushes the rebuild because it makes it less likely we're a lottery team next year.

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, this is probably a bad move at least initially.

People were having breakdowns watching the tank for Bedard who wants to go through that again

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Not sure how people can say we are rushing the rebuild when we have traded 0 prospects and given up 1 late first that wasn’t even ours to begin with. Acquiring good veteran players only helps the development of our young guys

Room has got to be made somehow. Most likely in current bodies getting cleared out with an excess of NHL contracts but we don't know what else might be on the table to clear up that space.

 

[Viqsi]

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, this is probably a bad move at least initially.

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, you're f***ing insane. We were only in the running for Bedard because of an absurd wave of injuries; expecting that to repeat is like expecting us to make the Cup finals next year.

 

[Cowumbus]

 

[Monk]

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, you're f***ing insane. We were only in the running for Bedard because of an absurd wave of injuries; expecting that to repeat is like expecting us to make the Cup finals next year.

Imagine if they'd done an even better job tanking and were in Anaheim's position. The horror.

 

[Sdrawkcab321]

It rushes the rebuild because it makes it less likely we're a lottery team next year.

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, this is probably a bad move at least initially.

We’ve got enough young talent. We can’t rebuild forever.

 

[Finner]

8years is like wtf. Dollars are fine, nice 2nd pairing guy. Solid B for Jarmo.

Werenski - Severson
Jiricek - Boqvist
Dont even want to write it Provorov - Badbransson

Can we play with 4dman?

 

[JohnnyJacket13]

Werenski 6'2 213lbs
Provorov 6'1 201lbs
Jiricek 6'3 190lbs? But growing
Severson 6'2 205lbs.

Not a ton of nasty but some and good size

This seems to be the way contending teams have built their blue lines

 

[GoJackets1]

I like the player, and the direction of the defense a lot. 8 year term is hard to swallow, but the last 2 years are a very easy buyout if need be. He'll likely start next to Werenski which I think is fine, but then when we're actually supposed to contend, Severson will be the perfect 2nd or 3rd pair RD. All teams that go far in the playoffs have a D-man of Severson's quality on one of the bottom 2 pairs.

To add, Babcock likes to play a fast transition game with stretch passes, and as I understand it, both Provorov and Severson are very good in those regards. I'm also less concerned than others with their defensive abilities. Provorov's defense I am actually 0% concerned with. At his best, he's solid all over the ice. Severson has been playing in a high-risk high-reward system, which will likely continue here, but I think he's probably more solid overall than he's given credit for. If he makes an occasional mistake, that's fine for now because it's not like it'll be more frequent than what Peeke or Boqvist were doing.

 

[Toe Pick]

It rushes the rebuild because it makes it less likely we're a lottery team next year.

If you're holding out hope for Celebrini, this is probably a bad move at least initially.

I can understand the hesitation. I was team rebuild for sure until now. But I really think the timing is right to add vets and compete next year.

That and there is absolutely no way you can waste another year of Gaudreau. He's likely asking out if we intentionally repeat last year.

Unless a true #1 center falls into his lap on the trade market I'm sure Jarmo will keep at least a toe in the rebuild waters and hold onto that 2024 1st round pick (or at the VERY least make it lottery protected) and see how things look heading into the deadline.

 

[Cowumbus]

Not sure how people can say we are rushing the rebuild when we have traded 0 prospects and given up 1 late first that wasn’t even ours to begin with. Acquiring good veteran players only helps the development of our young guys

It’s about ceiling. As constructed, this team’s ceiling is not very high.

They need more Johnson, Jiricek, Carlsson types. Looks like we won’t be getting any more of them anytime soon.

 

[Ice9]

I keep seeing "rushing the process" Is there a written rule I dont know about saying you must lose X years THEN make the playoffs and lose X years to learn how to win?! Screw that! Make the playoff and learn how to win sooner rather than later.

"WHO DARES WINS"
or, gets fired. Mess up doing something rather than being on your heels...

 

[BB88]

I think we could have waited a month and saved the third round pick. I also think 7 x $6.2 million would have been his best offer in free agency given most team’s cap issues and we would‘t have the 8th year on the contract.

I don’t mind adding Severson, but I think this is now the worst contract on the team and it hasn’t officially started yet.

Also, I think we have just shortened our window if we ever have a window.

Columbus isn’t going to win any races for top players when there’s a market at fair value.

They got their guys and can relax with the defense.

& where did the window go?

 

[Crede777]

Unless a true #1 center falls into his lap on the trade market I'm sure Jarmo will keep at least a toe in the rebuild waters and hold onto that 2024 1st round pick (or at the VERY least make it lottery protected) and see how things look heading into the deadline.

I agree. There's no way Jarmo moves a 1st round pick before the TDL especially given the year we just had. Have a bunch of key injuries and that 1st you expected to be in the 10-20 range suddenly is a lottery pick.

You have to have some idea of where your team will finish before you think about moving the pick. Chicago made that mistake when they gave us the pick that became Jiricek.

 

[BB88]

It's a good pickup, but lot of question marks:

-Term of the contract is insane
-Again others mentioned but he's likely a 2nd pairing guy who is likely going to be on our first pairing, with another offensive first dman
-Finally I hope he wants to be here. He was looking at UFA in a few weeks. Again I don't think there is much of a chance that he pulls a Jeff Carter but there must have been a concern for us to give up a 3rd just to make sure we had him

He’s going to be in the 1st pairing max 1 year

24-25 top4 is going to be

Werenski- Jiricek
Provorov- Severson

 

[NotWendell]

At this point, it's all about the goaltending.

 

[Jyrki]

Jarmo is not dicking around. I like the price paid here - one of the main complaints we have is not being able to attract good UFAs, and a 3rd is a small price to pay for someone who's reliably Top 4 and drives offense from the backend.

Term is problematic though, because if the team doesn't start transitioning into being competitive in the upcoming season or two then it's another contract that can't be easily moved - i.e. if it turns out we just aren't physical and responsible enough in the backend.

And boy, why is Gudbranson being paid $4M for three more years now that he's effectively behind Severson and Boqvist on the right side while Jiricek will crave his spot? I'm still sticking with the theory that he was Gaudreau's "finder's fee" Aaaaargh....

 

[BB88]

I like the move. Seems like our own version of Weegar.

As someone said, this has to signal at least two of Boqvist, Peeke, Blankenburg, Gudbranson, and Bean are gone

I would have to think Boqvist and Peeke have the most value. I could see either one in a package for a forward.

I am still uneasy about the direction we’re going. It feels like we’re pushing our chips in a year too early. But this is what jarmo said he was going to do, so no real surprises.

I also think this makes it harder for Jiricek to make the team, and it’s no longer a lock which isn’t a bad thing.

Cap space is now getting pretty low. And we better be done trading draft picks (unless we acquire more)

Overall I like the move. Money is fine. Term is really bad, but that’s the cost for a UFA.

I don’t think they are pushing it too early.
You won’t fix the roster in 1 offseason and this offseason is going to take a lot of pressure of off next offseason.

Build the defense now, goaltending/offense next summer.

I said it during the season that if they land a franchise C prospect this draft focus needs to shift from draft to actually winning games on the ice.
There’s zero reasons to stay at basement level.

& they’ve done these moves while keeping all their prospects and that 3rd overall pick

 

[Sdrawkcab321]

At this point, it's all about the goaltending.

Uh oh

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

I step away for a minute and Dark Jarmo makes another move.

I would imagine Severson wanted this deal to get the 8th year instead of going UFA and gambling on getting a slightly higher AAV. It's kind of the opposite of the "new cap" short term deals like Gavrikov's 2 year term. Safety versus high risk; I like that in a defenseman.

All in all I don't know what to think of this, not sure I've ever seen him play properly. Some of the comments are a bit worrying, but I guess as long as he doesn't fall off a cliff within the first years, this is fine.

I too was pretty content in team rebuild; or rather, in not adding many expensive pieces this year and riding next year out to see what we have and keeping the cap space. But I can't fault the logic in these moves, they make a lot of sense addressing our apparent needs and are not crazy anchors despite the term on Severson. I'm a little worried that all this should mesh immediately but I think that's just because of the illusion of making big moves so fast - none of the deals absolutely require win-now (not even Gaudreau ultimately, although that would be a bit of a waste). These deals can be smoothed over to a longer window, and we still have a lot of prospects and some picks of our own.