UPDATE (4:31 p.m. ET): The Boston Bruins confirmed they have bought out the final two years of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg’s contract, ending his tenure with the team. Seidenberg now is an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any team once free agency begins Friday.
ORIGINAL STORY — Dennis Seidenberg’s Boston Bruins career reportedly has come to a close.
The Bruins on Thursday bought out the 34-year-old defenseman’s contract, according to multiple reports.
Seidenberg, who had two years remaining on a four-year, $16 million deal, was set to make $4 million during the upcoming season. Salary cap resource General Fanager shared the details of the reported buyout, which will save the Bruins $2.833 million in salary cap space in 2016-17.
Seidenberg spent parts of seven seasons with the Bruins, arriving in Boston late in the 2009-10 campaign and playing a key role on the 2010-11 squad that ended the franchise’s 39-year Stanley Cup drought. That Cup-winning season was the most productive of Seidenberg’s career, as he tallied seven goals and 25 assists as Boston’s No. 2 defenseman behind Zdeno Chara.
Seidenberg’s numbers and effectiveness have slipped in the years since, however. He managed just one goal and 11 assists in 61 games this past season while struggling mightily with puck possession and missing time with back and groin injuries.
Chara, Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid now are the only Bruins defensemen currently under contract for the upcoming season, although the team has extended qualifying offers to impending restricted free agents Torey Krug, Colin Miller and Joe Morrow.
Thumbnail photo via Kelvin Kuo/USA TODAY Sports Images
