If there was anyone who was born to be a New Jersey Devil, it was Damon Severson. Just look at his name for proof. You can’t get any more devilish than the name Damon. Still, it was probably more his evolving defensive game and natural offensive flare along with his inherent composure and confidence that drew the Devils to select him during the second round—sixtieth overall—in the 2012 draft. He was a sweetie pie on his draft day as you can see:
I swear that cute smile and the country Canadian “o” and “u” alone were worth drafting him for, but that defense he mentioned rounding out and that offensive potential he prided himself on could definitely help the Devils, especially since the following two years part of the team’s struggles have emerged from defensemen being too slow to skate the puck out of their end or too offensively challenged (or visually impaired, given that some were aging like Salvador) to effectively pass the puck out of their zone to our veteran forwards. In a league built on speed and puck movement that is a Problem with a very deliberate capital P.
As a new member of the Devils organization, Damon attended the team’s 2012 rookie camp, where he discussed in an interview how he tried to soak in all the wisdom from the coaches and players at the camp and again explained how he tried to model his game after Shea Weber, an emulation that might be part of the reason why Damon has a very fierce and accurate shot from the point:
Since the Devils love to let prospects age like wine, Damon, predictably, was sent back down for another season in the WHL with the Kelowna Rockets, where he tallied fifty-two points (ten goals and forty-two assists) in seventy-one games during the regular season as well as ten points (one goal and nine assists) in eleven games during the playoffs. Basically that offensive game was coming along nicely.
With another year of experience under his belt, Damon arrived at rookie camp 2013, where he felt more familiar with the process than he had last year and where he mentioned that he perceived himself as more of a power play point producer (though he was committed to bringing an offensive dimension to five-on-five situations) and how pleased he was with how his high plus-minus rating reflected his burgeoning ability to keep the puck out his net:
An obviously driven and self-assured individual, Damon was motivated to make as powerful an impression as possible on the coaching staff and to complicate their decision to cut him from the team as much as he could. During rookie camp, he was strong enough to be invited to the team’s 2013 training camp, where he discussed how he believed that his ability to control the play and tempo of the game as a defenseman had grown in leaps and bounds the past year:
For those who might be wondering if the term “meteoric” to describe Damon’s development as a player was an exaggeration, it was hyperbole, but only slightly, because Damon was selected in the ninth round (one-hundred-ninety-second overall) by the Rockets in the 2009 bantam draft, and he played in the WHL just the year after. In other words, Damon’s growth as a player has a pattern of being exponential, so his shooting upward in points during the 2012-2013 season fits that trajectory.
Damon fulfilled his objective of impressing at the 2013 training camp, and he certainly made the decision to cut him from the Devils as hard as possible. He earned the opportunity to compete in two preseason games alongside Andy Greene (whom we all know would be ten times the captain that Salvador is), and Pete DeBoer was singing Damon’s praises.
When asked what Damon’s strengths were, Pete countered, “I think the better question is what are his weaknesses. There aren’t many. He really does a bit of everything well. He’s a big body, he has a physical edge to him, and he handles the puck well. He moves it well and can shoot it. For me he does a bit of everything. It’s a nice package. He’s real mature. Great kid. An exciting prospect.” This quote is a beautiful thing, because it gives me a chance to enhance the world peace movement by being able to agree with the words that come out of Pete DeBoer’s mouth. That so rarely happens that it’s quite a treat when it does.
Since the cruel hockey gods didn’t want the Devils to make the playoffs last year or to not have a team of geriatrics on ice, Damon was again sent back to the WHL, where he had a monster of a season in which he produced sixty-one points (fifteen goals and forty-six assists) in sixty-four games during the regular season in addition to eighteen points (four goals and fourteen assists) in fourteen playoff games.
Armed with the knowledge that his Canadian junior career was in the past, Damon showed up to the 2014 Devils training camp resolved to crack the roster and confident that he was prepared to play in the NHL whenever the chance arrived:
Damon’s preseason performance was impressive enough that he earned a slot in the opening night lineup against the Flyers over Adam Larsson (who should himself probably be in the lineup over Salvador the Slow if the Devils were a completely merit-based organization committed to winning).
Against the Flyers, Damon had a solid game, appearing to calm down more as the game progressed, and his compete level and focus seemed to climb a couple of notches after the score was tied 3-3. That suggests a poise and the potential to rise rather than crumble in important, big-game situations that is not common among young defensemen and is a trait that some defensemen never develop at all.
Damon’s work in the Flyers game was good enough to receive the coveted Pete DeBoer stamp of approval, who commented post-game, “I thought he was fantastic, composed, not overwhelmed, made plays. When the game turned, and it became 3-3, I thought that he got better, which means something for a young guy.” Perhaps because of Damon’s composure and apparent ability to perform under pressure, DeBoer felt comfortable using him on a penalty kill with nine minutes left in the game when the Devils were clinging to a 5-4 lead. As DeBoer stated, “He deserved to be out there. He was playing well enough that he should have been out there.”
While Damon’s NHL debut was great, he had to wait until the next game against the Panthers to materialize on the scoresheet, but when he did, he announced himself with a bang by assisting on a Mike Cammalleri goal and then rocketing a blast of his own past Roberto Luongo for his first NHL goal and multi-point night.
Damon’s goal prompted a precious moment back at the bench when DeBoer (doing his best impersonation of a competent NHL coach) actually remembered that he was legally permitted to interact with players outside of the locker room and gave Damon some congratulatory shoulder pats.
Then Damon was all adorable and couldn’t stifle a smile although he was trying to be all cool and mature, which even perpetually sad-faced DeBoer might have found cute, since he remarked post-game, “He was trying not to smile coming back to the bench. It was pretty funny actually. He was trying as hard as possible not to crack one, but I think we caught him, and good for him. It was great.” Basically, the Apocalypse is coming because DeBoer and I are both agreed that Damon is a perfect munchkin of a defenseman, so please don’t destroy his confidence, Coach, by benching him for the ninety million things Salvador gets away with on a consistent basis.
By comparison with his performance against the Panthers, Damon had a quiet game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he proved once again that he does not require sheltering when eleven of his twelve face-offs were taken in the defensive zone. Damon also caught my eye in a positive way when he was able to prevent a Lightning breakaway, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed his excellent work, since Devils’ beat writer Tom Guilitti reported that Scotty Bowman was gushing about Severson in the press box. If you stand out to Scotty Bowman in a good way, that probably is a sign that you’re doing something right, and I think with Damon what really makes him special is that the mistakes he makes are common for young defensemen but the things he does well especially at such a young age are quite rare. He’s special and fun to watch.
That’s why he found a way to be the highlight (and only positive) of the Devils’ loss to Washington. Although he goofed in his coverage on Ovechkin on the fourth goal, he was the one who tied the game twice with his two goals, which were the only ones that the Devils scored that game, and his ability to arise to the occasion and generate offense when his team needed was again a wonderful thing to see.
It’s really exciting to have a defenseman whose shots on net routinely make it through the traffic in front of the crease, but what’s even better is that I don’t think Damon’s performance is a fluke or just a surge of points.
I believe he is the real deal, and his true value as a defenseman isn’t solely in his point production but rather in his overall knack at accessing plays quickly and correctly. His three goals are wonderful—and if he can continue to rack up the points while seeing significant ice time he might become a dark horse contender for the Calder Trophy, since we know Calder voters are swayed by gaudy stats—but I’m climbing aboard the hype train because of the way he plays his position. His stick work, positioning, and overall comprehension of the game is extremely refined for such a young defenseman. Watch him read and react when forwards come bearing down. Watch his coverage on the off-side when play is in the opposite corner. Watch him detect from his partner when there is a defensive breakdown. Watch how silkily he can evade trouble with the puck. Those things typically take years for a defenseman to refine, and Damon has many of them fairly well mastered now when he is fresh out of junior. That stuff is not just a one time hot stretch. It’s a fundamental grasp of his position at an elevated level that should stay with him throughout his career in the NHL. This is all about following the play—which Damon does—and not the puck, since there is so much more to the game than tracking the black disc skidding across the ice. That’s why Scotty Bowman was impressed by Damon, even though Damon put up no points in Tampa.
Add in Damon’s offense, add in the fact that he just turned twenty in September, and add in the fact that he’s doing all the things I outlined in the above paragraph only four games into his NHL career without protected minutes—and on the road, he’s getting the less favorable match-ups that opposing coaches dictate—and you have a development curve that should continue to shoot upward. Damon should make a hell of a Devil, and, as fans, I hope we have the pleasure of watching him for many more years.
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