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Julien would be ‘very surprised’ if Seidenberg plays Game 7

dennisseidenbergetty

It’s a longshot, but it also hasn’t been ruled out entirely.

That’s the story out of Boston regarding the availability of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg for tonight’s Game 7 versus Montreal at TD Garden. Seidenberg, sidelined since Dec. 27 with a torn ACL, has made remarkable strides to get back in playing shape -- on Wednesday, he participated in contact drills for the second day in a row -- and, as such, head coach Claude Julien was asked about the German rearguard’s chances to play this evening.

From CSNNE:

When asked if Seidenberg had any chance of playing on Wednesday night in the do-or-die Game 7 against the Habs, Julien gave a long pause before giving the answer everyone expected.

“Ah, I don’t think so,” said Julien. “I’d be very surprised.”

The question also becomes how much of an upgrade a rusty Seidenberg, who hasn’t played in four months, is over Matt Bartkowski or Dougie Hamilton in the thick of playoff battle.

Clearly there’s a very low percentage chance that the Bruins will surprise us all by inserting Seidenberg back into the lineup for Game 7. The more likely scenario is that he gets practices under his belt before returning sometime in the conference finals, or Stanley Cup Final, should be the Bruins advance.

Seidenberg, who averaged nearly 26 minutes per game en route to last year’s Stanley Cup Final, said that week he “could probably play right now” prior to Game 4 in Montreal.