Dennis Seidenberg is ‘a guy who cares — Bruins GM Sweeney

Seidenberg began just 43.8 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone past year , the lowest percentage of any Bruins defenseman.

The Boston Bruins announced on Wednesday that veteran defenseman Dennis Seidenberg would be undergoing a lumbar microdiscectomy on Thursday. “You know what? He apologized”, Sweeney said. Sweeney said he’ll continue the ongoing chatter with other teams about D-men available on the trade market.

Zach Trotman, Kevan Miller and Matt Irwin are also in the picture.

Seidenberg joined the Bruins via trade in March 2010, and was a member of the 2011 Stanley Cup champion team. He woke up one morning two weeks ago with tightness in his back and immediately notified the team’s medical staff. The first course of action was rest, and while it did not get worse, the discomfort did not subside so the medical staff thought it best to have the surgery now. He played all 82 games during the 2014-2015 season. “They’re confident that surgery will alleviate this and within an eight-week period he’ll be back playing”. Fortunately it’s still early enough in camp where another player can step up in his place. That group, however, still had a very good second-pairing guy in Johnny Boychuk and a budding star in Dougie Hamilton, to go with Chara, who was enjoying another strong season until a broken finger slowed him at the end of the Canadiens series.

Clearly, Zdeno Chara, at 39, brings that by the boatload and Adam McQuaid should be considered a grizzled veteran at this point. The Bruins are in need of a puck moving defenseman that can compliment Torey Krug, and it can be argued that the biggest issue Seidenberg faced last season was his ability to drive play. Regardless of Seidenberg’s injury, Trotman said he’s already motivated to earn a spot on the roster. No one wants to see a player – especially one with the cordial demeanor of Seidenberg – get injured. “But now they’re getting an opportunity, and hopefully they can take advantage of it”.