Columbus Blue Jackets’ Damon Severson leaves game early with upper-body injury

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson did not return to Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers due to an upper-body injury.

Severson, 29, suffered the injury early in the second period of the game. The injury is believed to have occurred when he dove to keep the puck in the offensive zone on the power play, which led to a shorthanded 2-on-0 that created the 3-1 goal for Philadelphia. The severity of the injury has yet to be confirmed, along with the specifics of a timeline for his return. He finished with one hit in 9:57 of ice time as the Blue Jackets went on to lose the game 5-2.

Severson is off to a productive start to his Blue Jackets career, with three goals and five assists for eight points in 18 games so far this season. He’s one of the best defensemen in the league at generating offensive chances, with a 2.9 5v5 expected goals for per 60 minutes that ranks sixth among defensemen with 4000 minutes played since 2021.

Severson was a former second-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 2012 NHL Draft, and spent parts of nine seasons in New Jersey before his unrestricted free agency rights were dealt to the Blue Jackets in the 2023 offseason. He then signed an eight-year contract with a $6.25 million cap hit with Columbus before the July 1st free agency period began.

The Blue Jackets had seven defensemen in the lineup for Sunday’s game, so that gave them the flexibility to still run regular defense pairings even with Severson missing more than half of the game. Adam Boqvist had gotten into the lineup in place of Patrik Laine, who was a surprise healthy scratch for the game, so the Blue Jackets will likely put Laine back into the lineup if Severson’s injury causes him to miss several games.