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Kalman: Seidenberg Injury Means Sweeney Can Get Better Feel For Bruins' Future

BOSTON (CBS) -- Those with silly thoughts about the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup in 2016 and Dennis Seidenberg returning to his 2011 form this season were crushed by the news Wednesday that the 34-year-old defenseman will be out eight weeks after back surgery.

But in the delusion-free real world, where the Bruins are going through a bit of a transition year under first-year general manager Don Sweeney, this Seidenberg injury could actually be a blessing in disguise.

With Seidenberg out of the way, the Bruins can get down to the unenviable task of assessing what they have in their organization and what they might need to import from other teams.

Seidenberg was going to be a vital part of the Bruins' effort to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence because of his stability and experience. One year removed from surgery on an MCL/ACL injury in 2013-14, Seidenberg played in all 82 games last season and averaged 22:06 of ice time. He led the team in blocked shots with 146 and was third in penalty-kill ice time at 2:33 per game.

However, the Bruins missed the playoffs and were 12th in penalty-kill efficiency. It took a while for Seidenberg to shake off the rust after missing the last 44 games plus playoffs in 2014 and even once he hit his stride he was an average player on a mediocre team.

If Seidenberg's downward trend in performance continued this season, he was going to be in the way. Based on his pedigree and salary (he's in the second year of a contract that hits the Bruins for $4 million per season under the salary-cap ceiling), Seidenberg was going to be cast in a top-four role again. Regardless of the rhetoric about the best players playing and rewarding those that earn jobs, Seidenberg wasn't going anywhere even if all the Bruins' hopefuls outplayed him in this training camp. And it was likely that he was going to be outperformed by at least a couple of the Bruins' younger and/or more dynamic candidates.

Now some of the heat is off Sweeney and coach Claude Julien to make a difficult decision or go back on their promises about playing only the best. With Seidenberg out of the picture for a couple of months, there will be plenty of playing time to go around for Zach Trotman, who's looking to make good on his one-way contract, and Colin Miller, who's trying to make the jump to the NHL after accomplishing all he could in the AHL (he led all defensemen with 19 goals last season). The Bruins will get a longer look at Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid in top-four minutes. And they might even get a better assessment of 2015 first-round pick Jakub Zboril and 2013 second-round pick Linus Arnesson.

The Seidenberg-less months might cost the Bruins some wins. Or they might fare better without him than with him. Hopefully if the losses pile up, Sweeney won't make a panic move and give up too much of the Bruins' future for what he thinks is an instant-gratification acquisition. He's spoken as much about the Bruins' future as their present since taking over as GM. So far it sounds like Sweeney is taking a cautious approach to life without Seidenberg.

"Only under the right circumstances, you know, if it's going to be the right fit for us relative to the guys that we have and that we've been assessing overall," the GM responded to a question about ramping up his efforts to make a trade. "We've felt we've had very good depth, albeit some of it inexperienced but now they're getting an opportunity and hopefully they can take advantage of it."

Between Trotman, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow, Matt Irwin, Arnesson and others the Bruins should have a solid NHLer or two at their disposal. If not, well then Sweeney can really turn up the heat on his trade hunt. These next eight weeks aren't going to be a final judgement of some of these players, but for a few it will be make-or-break time, at least as far as becoming NHL players in a Bruins sweater.

Let's face it, after missing all of training camp and 15 to 20 games, there's no telling if Seidenberg will have anything to give the Bruins this season. This absence could be the start of a major downturn before he gets halfway through his contract. The Bruins want to play with more pace and reducing their reliance on a player of Seidenberg's skill level aids that, even without a tweak to the system. Even if he returns to something similar to his form of two or three years ago, but he can't crack the lineup or earn back top-four minutes, that'll be great news for the organization.

Sometimes unforeseen occurrences rush the future into the present. We all remember how injuries opened the door for Krug to replace Andrew Ference for the long-term in 2013. Maybe someone emerges from this season as Seidenberg's heir apparent or the Bruins find that they like having a different makeup on their back-end.

The reality is anything that helps Sweeney get a handle on the Bruins' future is a positive. No one wants to see a player – especially one with the cordial demeanor of Seidenberg – get injured. But injuries happen and the Bruins have a chance to take advantage of this one to better their organization for the future, which doesn't include much of Seidenberg anyway.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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