Nobody is calling Dennis Seidenberg a game-changer.
But the 35-year-old defenseman the Islanders signed to a one-year, $1 million deal Wednesday does represent a tightening of the screws on the back end — which could use some tightening. With three young players vying for one or two spots on the Isles’ defensive group, this now makes the competition that much more cutthroat.
“It’s depth to our hockey team, it’s a leader to our hockey team,” coach Jack Capuano said at training camp Thursday. “He’s played in some big-time games.”
The biggest of those games came alongside Johnny Boychuk, now one of the Islanders’ back-end stalwarts.