There is one less active player from the 2011 Stanley Cup edition of the Boston Bruins as German defenseman Dennis Seidenberg announced his retirement from the NHL. The 38-year-old Seidenberg told a German news outlet that it was time after 15 NHL seasons of hard-nosed warrior play in the defensive zone that spanned six organizations and ended with the hard-working German D-men playing a mentor role alongside former B’s teammate Johnny Boychuk with a young Islanders team.

Interestingly, Isles rookie sensation Mat Barzal lived with Seidenberg and his family when he first arrived on Long Island and ended up winning the Calder Trophy in his first season in New York.

"Physically it just does not work anymore, my shoulder and wrists are pretty much done after 15 years in the NHL,” said Seidenberg to the German outlet EIS Hockey News with the help of Google translate.

Seidenberg last played in the NHL in 2017-18 after two years in the Islanders organization, but was limited to 28 games due to injuries before playing his last hockey for Team Germany during the 2018 IIHF World Championships.

Seidenberg arrived in Boston during the 2010 NHL trade deadline from the Florida Panthers along with Matt Bartkowski in exchange for Byron Bitz, Craig Weller and a second-round pick that eventually turned into current P-Bruins defenseman Alexander Petrovic. He ended up succumbing to a leg injury that season, but played a key top pairing defenseman role with Zdeno Chara during Boston’s run to the Stanley Cup in 2011.

Seidenberg had a goal and 11 points and was a plus-12 in 24 playoff games that spring while averaging an amazing 27:38 of ice time, and one of the early turning points in that Cup run was Claude Julien installing Chara and Seidenberg as a top shutdown pair midway through the first-round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens.

Seidenberg was a hard-nosed, humble competitor willing to sacrifice his body in the defensive zone and a likable presence in the Bruins room always quick with a joke or a smile in a dressing room full of big personalities.

Overall, Seidenberg finished with 44 goals and 251 points in 859 games during his 15-year NHL career and played 401 games for the Bruins over the course of the best seven-year stretch in his professional hockey career. Seidenberg was bought out of his contract by the Bruins after suffering an ACL tear to his right knee during the 2013-14 NHL season, and that buyout cap figure ($1.167 million) will actually, finally come off the books following this current NHL regular season.

There are now just eight active members of the 2011 Stanley Cup team still playing in the NHL with Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Tuukka Rask still with the Bruins and Johnny Boychuk, Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin still active with other NHL teams while Adam McQuaid remains unsigned after last playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Seidenberg told the German media outlets that he wasn’t sure what would be next in his career, but didn’t rule out the possibility of playing in the German league with his 35-year-old younger brother Yanick, who plays for Munich EHC.

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