Seidenberg Disappointed, But Confident In Bruins' Depth
BOSTON (CBS) - Dennis Seidenberg will have to watch the rest of the season as a spectator, a disappointing realization for the Boston defenseman after another strong start by the Bruins.
"It's very disappointing," Seidenberg said from the Bruins practice facility on Monday. "We have a great team in here again, and not to be a part of it for such a long time is going to be tough."
Seidenberg watched his team practice on Monday, two days after it was announced his season was over with a torn MCL and ACL in his right knee. He suffered the injury in Friday night's 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators, and will meet with team doctors on Tuesday to determine when he'll undergo surger.
Seidenberg suffered an MCL injury a few years back, and said he knew something was wrong on Friday as soon as he hit the ice.
"I kind of knew it was different. I didn't know what it was but I felt a click, so we tested it out in the locker room and kind of knew what it was but didn't know until the MRI the next day," he explained. "It was pretty painful, but right now it doesn't feel bad at all."
Over the weekend, the blue-liner received a phone call from former Bruin Marco Sturm, who suffered a similar injury during his time in Boston. Strum gave Seidenberg plenty of advice about undergoing surgery, and wished him luck with the road ahead.
He knows he is in for a lengthy recovery, leaving Boston without one of their top defenseman, but Seidenberg isn't concerned about his teammates filling the void.
"The guys will be fine; there is a lot of depth on this team," he said. "Like you've seen in the past we all seem to step up in tough times, and I don't see this happening any differently. We have a lot of young guys playing up here, and they've played great hockey. I don't see why they won't keep going like that."
The Bruins recalled defenseman Kevan Miller from Providence on Monday, and head coach Claude Julien said he and his fellow coaches will do their best to put the Bruins' blue-liners in the best spot to succeed.
"It's up to us as a coaching staff to put the pairs together depending on who we're playing against, and what the situation is going to be. That's why you've seen different pairings in every game whether it's the top lines, whether it's size or whether it's something else," Julien explained on Monday.
It hasn't helped that Boston's defensive corps has been banged up as of late. Captain Zdeno Chara missed Saturday's loss in Ottawa, and Dougie Hamilton has been sidelined since December 8 with a lower-body injury. Chara participated in some early drills on Monday, and Hamilton practiced for the first time since his injury, but it hasn't been easy for Julien to work around injuries to key contributors.
"When you're missing Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg in one game, you're missing a lot of size and strength. Even though our other guys battled hard, you've got to be honest that you don't have that same size and presence as far as separating guys from pucks and getting it out of your own end quickly," noted Julien. "Once Chara is back then you're down just Seidenberg, and you have a big, strong guy in Miller coming in."
Julien said Hamilton was progressing as scheduled, and the head coach didn't rule out a return by Chara Tuesday night against the Islanders. But that decision won't likely come until game-time.
"He's progressing and we'll make a decision depending on how he is tomorrow," Julien said of Chara.
