Blue Jackets Damon Severson Settled In & Ready to Produce

GM Jarmo Kekalainen wasted no time in doing just that. While the Stanley Cup Final was ongoing, the Blue Jackets completed a sign and trade with the New Jersey Devils. Damon Severson signed an eight-year, $50 million deal that sees him tied to the Blue Jackets through the 2030-31 season.

The hope was for Severson along with fellow newcomer Ivan Provorov was to help fortify their blue line to make them more competitive. With Zach Werenski now out for 1-2 weeks after suffering a quad contusion on Thursday night, more will be needed from these newcomers.

Severson stopped by on Saturday and spent a few minutes chatting about how he’s settled into Columbus as well as how he’s trying to get more comfortable with his new surroundings and teammates. Here is our conversation.

Damon Severson Q&A

THW: Damon, because of all the defensemen that are out there, a lot of righties, have you been asked to play the left side? Have you done it before? Is that something that you can be comfortable with if they wanted you to do it?

Severson: “Naturally, you’re more comfortable on the right. Anybody’s gonna tell you that if they’re more comfortable on their off side, then that’s news to me because I think everyone’s kind of more comfortable on their normal side. I’ve been asked a little bit to play the left in the years past when we’ve had righties in New Jersey as well. But usually it doesn’t last for very long because they try to even the pairs out with righty-lefties. So if it’s the case where I have to play left, I’m more than willing to help the team do whatever I need to do. But for the most part I think I’ll probably be on the right until I’m told otherwise.”

THW: So playing with new partners as well. When you come in and you learn how your partner plays, what are some of the keys to quickly getting that chemistry with them?

Severson: “Communication’s key for sure on the ice and off the ice in-between shifts or in-between periods or even practice days. What the guys like to do here and situational stuff but especially on the ice when the play is live happening. If you’re talking to your partner, whether it’s calling for a pass or telling him here’s where I am. And then you’re just kind of communicating. That’s the biggest thing. You can adjust the guys on the ice and you have your head up and you see where guys are gonna go. Communication I think is definitely key to getting to know your partner better.”

THW: You’ve played in the league a while, so coming in as a veteran with a lot of younger guys here, what can you do to help as a veteran and help everybody get comfortable, maybe lead in your own sort of way?

Severson: “My way is leading by example, trying to let the play do the talking. I’m not the most vocal guy where I don’t like to yell and scream or anything like that. I’m just a here we go boys type thing and stuff like that. If I see something that maybe we can do better, I’ll speak to that individual guy or say it out loud in the room. But everyone’s a professional. Everyone knows when they’re playing good and when they’re not playing good. It’s just more of leading by example and letting your play do the talking. And you go out there. You work hard. You make the right plays. You skate. You don’t play in your d-zone so much. You’re playing in the offensive zone and the eyes are lit up because you’re just making the right play all the time. That’s really what I’ve seen in years past with other veteran defense when I learned from them and how successful they were. You never get yourself in trouble. You always make the simple play and play in the offense zone as much as possible. And for somebody like myself in which my strength is more offensively, that’s gonna make me feel the puck a little bit more and feel my game out a little bit better and hopefully get a good rhythm.”

THW: How different is the system that was played in New Jersey compared to what they’re trying to instill here?

Severson: “A little bit different in certain ways of aggressiveness and in certain aspects of the defensive zone coverage. I think they’re trying to emulate the puck movement in the neutral zone and try to make it quick. So a lot of speed and a lot of skill on (the New Jersey Devils). That’s a good team to emulate because of the way they play. I caught a little bit of their game Friday and they trying to do that same thing and it’s fun to watch and it was fun to play that way too. You take bits and pieces off the successful teams and you just try to implement them into your game, and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

THW: And you go from a coach in Lindy Ruff, who I think has a place in the Hall of Fame waiting for him when he’s done with his career to Pascal Vincent, who’s going into his second regular season game. What are your early impressions of Pascal and what he’s trying to do, the way he communicates? How does he get the best out of his players from your point of view?

Severson: “Very calm for sure. (He) gets his message through and wants it to be loud and clear. Not necessarily loud, just very clear. Here’s my message and this is what we’re doing here kind of thing. He wants to instill a solid culture, not only for Games 1 and 2, but for two, three, four, five years down the road. He wants to make sure guys are in the right mindset and he wants to communicate with you guys. He leaves that line of communication open between players and coaches and wants the players to run the room. It’s not about the coaches running the rooms so we have to do a good job. It’s a two-way street. You have to do a good job as players too. He’s trying to instill systems and instill tactics that he wants us to use to be successful. We have to do that too. It’s going to help both parties.”

THW: Finally are you all settled into Columbus now? How much of a whirlwind was it from the time you signed the contract to getting into a routine?

Severson: “Thankfully it was not too bad because I had a couple months to get settled and everything. A couple weeks after we signed here, I bought a house out in New Albany. We’re settled in there, great neighbors, good neighborhoods. Everything’s good off the ice. That’s a huge part of it for sure. Now it’s just a matter of making sure I get real comfortable with my teammates here and get real comfortable on the ice and start to produce and play really well day in and day out. That’s really what I’m focused on now. Everything’s taking care of itself away from the rink. Now it’s just a matter of doing my business at the rink.”