Former Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg is hoping to get picked up before the start of the season.
Dennis Seidenberg returned to the ice on Sunday. He’s playing in the World Cup of Hockey, as a member of Team Europe. It’s a first step for the 35-year old German-born blueliner, whose contract was bought out by the Boston Bruins during the offseason.
Seidenberg’s chances of landing a new team aren’t great. Three years ago, Seidenberg had his ACL/MCL rebuilt, and he hasn’t been able to return to his previous level of play since. He’s also put up a lot of miles on his body, playing in 800-plus games in his 13-year NHL career.
“I’ve kind of turned the page,” said Seidenberg according to the Boston Globe. “But then again, my family’s still in Boston. They started school in Boston. So you always think about something you’re still with but you’re not. So it was something that was obviously disappointing. But it doesn’t really matter right now. I have to go into this tournament, play my game, and hopefully something comes up.”
Now Seidenberg is hoping a team will offer him a job before the start of the season. The former Bruin knows what he’ll have to work on heading into the 2016-17 season.
At 35, he’s one of the older players in free agency right now. Still. the 2011 Stanley Cup winner does have an outside chance of landing a NHL contract by the start of the season. The free agency pool for defenseman is rather shallow at this point, and Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli seems to fixate on former Bruins players.
Seidenberg is hoping to get a contract, rather than just sign on for a PTO. For the moment, he’s just focused on what he can do to get a job in the NHL.
“I just have to focus on playing my game,” Seidenberg said. “There’s no magic to it. It’s playing a simple style of hockey. That’s basically it. I don’t have to try and do something I can’t do. That’s going to go the other way if you do that.”