Neely On Felger & Mazz: You Can't Replace Dennis Seidenberg
BOSTON (CBS) - A little snow won't stop the Boston Bruins from playing hockey Thursday night.
Bruins President Cam Neely joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Felger & Mazz for his weekly call on Thursday, and despite the snowy conditions in Boston, said Thursday night's game against the Nashville Predators will be played as scheduled.
As for hockey itself, the Bruins will be without the services of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg for the rest of the season after he suffered a torn ACL and MCL last week.
That gives Neely and General Manager Peter Chiarelli the tough task of trying to find a replacement for Seidenberg -- something Neely says is impossible.
"You can't replace Dennis. The old cliché is everyone else has to step up and we'll continue to evaluate how we do on the back-end as we get towards the trade deadline. But there are no Dennis Seidenbergs out there ready to step in," said Neely.
Neely said the Bruins will spend the money they save when Seidenberg goes on the long-term IR, but they won't necessarily be looking for a blue-liner to pair up with Zdeno Chara -- a role Seidenberg has owned during the postseason.
"We really need to see how we play going into the trade deadline and see what we may need to compliment the current players," said Neely. "As we get through the Olympic break and teams start really flushing out where they're at, teams that are on the bubble or out of the playoffs start letting other teams know what is becoming available.
"We'll be looking to improve our team on any part of our roster. It's important for us to watch what we have going on here now," said Neely. "With these injuries we've had a little bit of a benefit seeing these kids come up from Providence and get a taste of where they may fit in with us in the future."
Neely also touched on this year's Winter Classic, and next year's game in Washington D.C.. He said the Bruins have not been contacted by the league to participate in next year's game, but it's still a possibility: