This is a loss for the Devils.
This is no win for the Jackets.
This is a clear win for Severson.

No clue how you got there.

What I am saying, for the 3rd time, is that he might play at different spot on different teams depending on the quality of the roster, but Severson isn't 1st pairing talent.

Thank you Sevvy for many solid years w/ the Devs. Good luck w/ your new team.

This is a win for the Devils. Their Cup window is wide open and they have Hughes for 2 years on an ELC and Nemec isn't far behind. Now they have enough cap space to re-sign most of their RFA's

He was absolutely top-4. Was our #3 dman in even-strength minutes for most the season. You said he was ‘sheltered on 3rd pair’ and if he was defensively worse than Marino, he doesn’t belong in top-4.

So it sounds like you are unfamiliar with the Devils defense (or know who John Marino is). Severson’s strength is at even-strength, getting out of d-zone, getting the puck into transition….a huge part of our 5v5 success this year. Hamilton’s strength is offense. Marino’s strength is defending. Different situations call for Severson vs Marino vs Hamilton. And on different nights, each of them could be called best RD on ice.

I thought “****, was that me?” Then looked and saw it was some dude named DongLord.

My TLDR, hopefully the contract is worth it for a few years, and by the time his play drops off with age, the cap will be high enough that it doesn’t hurt so much.

What a terrible deal. The kind that get GMs fired. It's like he's trying to copy the drought Sabres approach to building a team.

A lot of people commenting on how this contract ages. Years 6-8 are extremely affordable with the buyout if it gets to that. Seems to me that it's a very well structured deal for the Jackets.

Exactly where I expected him. Not sure why everyone is saying this is bad. He's a solid dman and has been for years. Well deserved in my opinion. But yes term is long.

This is a massive overpay. I expected him to sign elsewhere with a 'prove that last season was a fluke' cheap deal. He was stuck on the 3rd pair in NJ, and looked lost defensively. Being on the 3rd pair his offense suffered, while his +/- compared to his defensive partners was awful. Not as bad as the Gudbrandson deal...but with the added years It might be. Paying a guy over 6mil to be at best your 2nd right shot dman isnt a sound investment- especially for a team nowhere near contending.

I know not everyone follows the Devils, so I don’t expect everyone to have the most informed take on our blueline. So I will try inform those less familiar the best I can.

1. NJD was actually pretty good this year. We outperformed at lot of peoples expectations (and were youngest team to reach 2nd round in years). A lot of that success was due to a deep blueline.

2. Severson was Devils ice-time leader in four previous seasons. Was not a ‘number one’ by league standards, but was best we had. So he got 22-23 minute a night including roles on top PP and PK units.

3. This year, his TOI dropped a couple of minutes, but most of that came from a minute-per-game less time on PP (Hamilton was healthy) and about 40 second less on PK (emergence of Siegenthaler, Marino, Bahl). His bread and butter is at even strength, where he was still at healthy 17-18 minute a game. So it’s inaccurate to say he was “sheltered” or “buried” or “stuck”. He simply gained teammates who were better on special teams. And they were all deployed differently.

3. His 2022-23 season and 2021-22 weren’t really much different from one another in terms of production. At even strength,

- 2021-22: 80 gp, 6 g, 23 a, 29 pts
- 2022-23: 81 gp, 5 g, 23 a, 28 pts

The difference was 16 power play points last year (playing on PP1) to 4 power play points this year (playing on PP2). So, there wasn’t a fluke in this season or last. He produced at someone similar rates.

4. His defense has rarely, if ever, “looked lost”. He has the occasional blunder (like the occasional ambitious stretch pass or kicked-in own goal). Most of the time, he is fairly confident player…”lost” would never be used to describe him (even if describing his weaknesses).

5. As for his value, $6.25m is a fair number. He wanted term and gave up $ to get it. 8 years is hard to project for any player, but the AAV is a team-friendly one for a guy who just finished 3rd in league in xGF% (just ahead of Slavin, Weegar, Burns).

6. As for playing behind Gudbranson, I don’t know what CBJ plans, but I cannot imagine any reason Severson gets less time on the ice.

How so? The Sabres gave out one 8-year contract. To Eichel. BUF didn't sign any D-men to an 8-yr contract. Not sure what you're talking about.

Missing the point. I'm not talking specifically about 8 year deals. I'm talking about throwing money at older FAs to speed up a rebuild. Kyle Okposo 7 years 6M at 28 years old. Matt Moulson 5x5M at 31 years old etc

Gosh, I don’t think that is any clearer. Most of Buffalo’s roster either came from draft or from their farm system. And Okposo deal was 7 years ago, Moulson deal was 9 years ago. Maybe try another example that fits current situation?

Also free agents cannot sign 8-year deals unless they are extending on current team.

I wonder what would happen if NJ just decided not to trade him after signing him. Would that even be allowed?

Wtf are you talking about lmao? No duh it was 7 years ago. That's why I literally said the "drought" Sabres approach to building a team. I'm literally talking about Tim Murray. Nobody is talking about the Sabres now. They are actually building the right way now and staying away from the free agency trap for small market teams.

Murray had young talent with Eichel / Reinhart / Ullmark / Risto and decided to just speed up the rebuild throwing money around in FA. They had like 20M in cap (27% of the cap at the time) with Okposo, Moulson, Gionta, Josh Gorges, and Cody Franson.

They would have to offer a 2nd since Columbus' 3rd is "better".

If Severson only wanted to sign in Toronto for 6.25, NDJ would've taken the 3rd from Toronto

Why would Toronto's 3rd be a better offer than Columbus' (which is #80 from Calgary) if you are NJ?

I'm saying that if Severson won't sign with CBJ, then CBJ doesn't offer the 3rd and it's only Toronto's 3rd that's available, so NJD takes the 3rd

see, this is the NHL be-a-gm delusion leafs fans live under. They'd rather live in a perpetual state of disappointment year after year, within this cup contention window in which has been lingering for 6+ years; then to take a 'bad' contract for a big minute d man who could have a true impact on the 6 d pairings the team currently has. (Which who played akin to a decent IIHF World Junior team come the second round of this years playoff)

This magical world that leafs fans live in where this mythical d man who can play Reilly minutes yet shut down top lines, continues to exist in realism within the minds of leafs fans today. This is not NHL 23, look at the options around you; MAKE A MOVE.

...What a waste of time comment lmao you provide nothing of value with any of your takes

Truth hurts

Why would Severson only want to play for Toronto? Not many Tavares out there? Did Severson have leafs bed sheets too?

I mean, bc Columbus was the only place Severson wanted to play in, NJD was sorta backed into a corner and so, accepted the 3rd as compensation... So, I was just saying that if it wasn't CBJ and it was Toronto, for example, NJD would have taken the third from them despite the pick not being as high as CBJ's one