Severson traded to Blue Jackets after signing 8-year contract with Devils

Damon Severson was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets by the New Jersey Devils on Friday after signing an eight-year, $50 million contract with New Jersey. It has an average annual value of $6.25 million and runs through the 2030-31 season.

Severson, who could have become an unrestricted free agent July 1, would not have been eligible to sign a contract longer than seven years if he had become a UFA.

"It was a crazy process, but getting it done before July 1 where the rush would have happened is great. I couldn't be happier to go to Columbus," Severson said. "It was an interesting process, I've never been through something like that being in New Jersey so long. So, it kind of came together pretty quick, once New Jersey granted permission for Columbus to start speaking with us and obviously being so close."

The Devils received a third-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

The 28-year-old defenseman had 33 points (seven goals, 26 assists) in 82 games for New Jersey this season and three points (one goal, two assists) in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He was the longest-tenured player on the Devils (nine seasons).

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"He's a smart defenseman. It seems like he makes great passes out of the zone all the time," Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "He doesn't need to be flashy. He's just effective but he's effective on both sides of the puck. He's a good defender as well.

"He's very well positioned all the time. He anticipates and reads the game well so he doesn't have to run around, but he's also got size (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) and physicality to him and we can play him in all situations, on special teams. He's also a leader, which is something that we wanted to add into our group. He's a veteran defenseman that will bring in a lot of experience and leadership into our locker room as well."

Selected by New Jersey in the second round (No. 60) of the 2012 NHL Draft, Severson has 263 points (58 goals, 205 assists) in 647 regular-season games and three points (one goal, two assists) in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"Jarmo's mentioned a few times, they wanted to be aggressive and they have a list of defensemen, and fortunately I was on the top of their list so they made that very clear and it makes you feel good, feel wanted," Severson said.

Severson said there were several reasons he decided to sign a long-term contract, although he did not rule out signing a short-term deal.

"We'd be silly not to have those conversations to be prepared for anything that was thrown at us," he said. "My preference was always long term. Chatting with my wife, we wanted to set up somewhere where we can start a family, raise a family in a safe place and a place we wanted to be.

"So we had lists of teams that had pros and cons and places we would consider going, and Columbus popped up and we kind of looked at each other [and said], 'We don't really know much about this place,' but everything we've heard and people we've talked to, they've loved it, and they've said nothing but good things. Once we had the call and once things kind of came together and then the contract business side of things came together, it was a no-brainer."

The trade comes three days after the Blue Jackets acquired defenseman Ivan Provorov in a three-team deal involving the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings.

Severson and Provorov join a Blue Jackets defenseman group that includes Zach Werenski, Erik Gudbranson, Andrew Peeke and Adam Boqvist. Each is signed for at least the next two seasons.

"We wanted to do the Provorov trade so that we don't go to the UFA market and all of a sudden, July 2 or July 3 [we] were empty-handed, and so we got that done, and using similar logic we got aggressive with Severson," Kekalainen said.

"The defense's been a strength of our team, but we've been young and we've been going through some struggles in the last couple of years, and watching the growth of our young guys, young guys on defense in particular, we felt like we have to strengthen the top four of our defense to take the next step."

Columbus also has young defensemen who will be competing for playing time, including Nick Blankenburg, 25, and David Jiricek, 20, the No. 6 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, who played four NHL games this season. The Blue Jackets dressed 15 defensemen this season because of numerous injuries, including to Werenski, who was limited to 13 games.

"I think that there's going to be lots of opportunities still in our top six," Kekalainen said. "As we've learned with all the injuries (this season), and it's good to have depth. So it's going to be a lot of competition obviously for the positions on defense. I've always said that it's great to have internal competition. It pushes everybody to get better and pushes the team to get better."

The Blue Jackets went 25-48-9 this season, finishing last in the Eastern Conference and 31st in the NHL, ahead of only the Anaheim Ducks. Brad Larsen was fired as coach April 15, and no replacement has been named.

The Devils (52-22-8) finished second in the Metropolitan Division this season. They defeated the New York Rangers in seven games in the Eastern Conference First Round to win a playoff series for the first time since 2012, then lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the second round.

"This is not a win-now or a desperation move or anything like that," Kekalainen said of Columbus making two trades this week. "We just want to make sure we surround our young guys with veteran players so we can take the next steps."

NHL.com independent correspondent Craig Merz contributed to this report