The NHL has lost veteran Dennis Seidenberg to retirement. The 38-year-old defender confirmed his retirement earlier this week. Seidenberg played over 800 games across 15 NHL seasons. His most recent competitive play came in 2018 with the German World Cup team.
Veteran Dennis Seidenberg Retires
Seidenberg entered the league in 2002-03 with the Philadelphia Flyers. He was a marginal player in Philly, never averaging more than 16 minutes per game. Seidenberg didn’t really hit his stride until 2008-09 with the Carolina Hurricanes. That year saw him post his best point total with a single team. Seidenberg scored five goals and 30 points that season. Philadelphia and Carolina were just two of his six teams.
The longest stretch of Seidenberg’s career with a single team went from 2009-10 to 2017-18. Those years were all spent with the Boston Bruins. It is with Boston that Seidenberg found a true home as almost half of his 859 games came playing in front of the crowds at TD Garden.
An Interesting Career
Seidenberg’s career is an interesting one. He was unique for much of it as there weren’t many Germans playing in the NHL. The percentage of Germans playing is still low relative to players from other European nations but Seidenberg helped blaze the trail in a way. His first years were also spent during a time when peripheral stats such as hits and blocks weren’t tracked.
The first year we can see those stats for Seidenberg is 2007-08 and after that he was an effective physical presence. He posted over 120 hits every season after tracking started except for an abbreviated 2013-14 when he played only 34 games. He was also an effective penalty killer with over 1,400 blocks.
Seidenberg currently stands 10th all-time in points among players born in Germany. The number of players from that country has only grown and now includes such stars as Leon Draisaitl and Philipp Grubauer. The country is now stronger than ever on the international hockey stage in part because Seidenberg was such an effective player at his position.
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