We have confirmed reports on Twitter and other sources that the Bruins placed veteran defenseman Dennis Seidenberg on unconditional waivers today for purpose of buyout. The team will save nearly $2.9M on the cap this year and another $1.8 and change in 2017-18.

Unfortunately, they’ll have to apply dead money to the cap as well, but the larger implication for the Bruins is that it opens up a roster spot for them.

Seids was acquired at the 2010 trade deadline in one of Peter Chiarelli’s more unheralded deals: he moved Byron Bitz and the 2nd-round pick (Alex Petrovic) previously acquired with Mark Recchi for Matt Lashoff and Martins Karsums to the Florida Panthers for Seidenberg and Matt Bartkowski. When it comes down to it- Recchi and Seidenberg were two major contributors to Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup victory- they probably don’t win it without them. And all it cost the B’s was Lashoff, Karsums, Bitz and Petrovic (who has become a decent shutdown D in Florida). Those are the trades Chiarelli doesn’t get enough credit for, even though he does his level best make people lose their minds (at least temporarily) when he sent 2010 1st overall pick Taylor Hall to New Jersey for solid defensive rearguard Adam Larsson (the 2011 fourth overall selection) even-steven yesterday. Larsson is a better player than he is getting credit for, but once again- it’s the *return* people have an issue with, for the love of Pete! (We’ll talk the crazy day of June 29 on our 3 Amigos podcast tonight, so check back here on the blog for the audio to post) 

Seidenberg’s Boston career nearly ended before it began- against Toronto in a late-season contest, he took a skate to the forearm that severed tendons and cost him the 2010 playoffs. Had it not been for that, do the Bruins suffer the epic 3-0 series collapse against Philly in the second round that year? He came back strong in 2011 and was precisely the kind of second-pairing, all-around minute-muncher that every championship needs.

He continued to be one of Boston’s rocks on D- a steady-Eddy type who didn’t bring a lot of flash and dash to the lineup, nor did he have a lot of speed, but just knew how to play the position. He was smart, gritty and dependable- exactly the kind of player Bruins fans love and respect.

In 2013-14, Chiarelli made the decision to extend Seidenberg for another four years at four million a pop- a perfectly reasonable deal at the time. Just weeks later, he suffered a devastating knee injury that tore both ACL and MCLs plus other structural damage. It seems inconceivable that we would be talking about Seidenberg making a possible return in the 2014 playoffs, but that’s where we were when the hated Montreal Canadiens dumped the President’s Trophy-winning B’s in the second round in Game 7. In retrospect, he wouldn’t have made a difference had he been cleared to play, but we’ll always wonder if the B’s would have won that series had he not been injured in the first place and was his normal self.

The 2014-16 seasons saw him as a shadow of his former self- he simply was unable to play at his previously high level with damaged knees and a wonky back. Even though he was greatly diminished, Seidenberg never complained and went out to play his hardest.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. It’s a shame a segment of fans kill the Bruins for extending Seidenberg given that nobody had a crystal ball that could have foretold he would suffer a catastrophic injury. But, that’s the way life goes in the short-term memory, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately? world of certain fans. Those folks always seem to have the answers, and for the rest of the fair-minded people out there- really aren’t worth the time or investment for the most part.

In the end, Seidenberg has a loyal following of B’s supporters who recognize and appreciate what he did. I admittedly was not keen on the move when it was made to bring him in (he was a pending UFA) but Chiarelli committed to him, re-signed him, and he became a key contributor to a championship team. Seidenberg is the classic example of not judging a trade (or draft pick) in the precise moment it happens, but to wait and see. We shouldn’t forget that and most of us who saw Seids do his thing for six full seasons and parts of a seventh won’t need any reminders.

The German machine, after years of grunt work in the trenches and selling out/sacrificing his body for his teams, is finally breaking down. It happens to the best of them, so rather than focus on the final two disappointing years in a Bruins uniform- we’ll choose to remember No. 44 in the better times.

You will  be missed, Seids- tanks, I mean- thanks for the memories.

Here are some memorable moments from his time in Boston:

Red line goal on a deflection/direction change

Catches Mike Smith cheating in 2010-11:

Colby Armstrong meets the “German Hammer”:

Seidenberg takes on a runaway freight train (Ovechkin):