Severson has been good. He has lapses in judgement, but I'm ok with him projecting to be a Zidlicky type. You take that offence, warts and all, so long as you've got him paired with someone who can recover + shield him in the D-zone until he's matured there.
His defense is way better than Zidlicky right now. And his offense isn't as good, at least it is not the same. Zidlicky was someone who could lead the rush and also had a very powerful shot. That is not exactly Severson's game. Severson looks to find the open man, his game is more about puck movement and vision.
On the Defensive side of things, Severson's On Ice Shots For/Against% was nearly identical to Adam Larsson's over the last two year...Sure there is competition and zone starts, but we are talking about Severson's 20 and 21 year old years.
His Corsi numbers have been among the best on the team(Defense) over the last two season both For and Against...And again we are talking about a 21 year old with 123 games experience (after last season) who really never had the benefit of a solid partner after his first 30 games.
His On-Ice goals Against are only behind Larsson and Greene over the last 2 years and this is a player who is averaging just shy of 20 minutes so far in his career (19:43 Career)
I think people are missing the many positives about Severson's performance. He is an all around defenseman and he has performing very well for this stage of his career.