Prior to Saturday night’s 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators, Boston defensemen Dennis Seidenberg had missed just 12 regular season games since coming to the club from the Florida Panthers in March 2010. But that loss was game No. 13 for the 32-year-old blue-liner.

And there are going to be 43 more games this season where Seidenberg will be a spectator.

Tearing his ACL and MCL in his right knee, life without Seidenberg is officially upon the Bruins, and that’s a tough pill to swallow for just about everybody involved. A warrior for Claude Julien’s squad since coming over, and a noted minute-eater on the blue-line, the loss of Seidenberg creates a huge void on the Bruins’ top four defensive core.

Through 39 games this year, Seidenberg sits second among all Bruins in time on ice (21:50 per night) and shifts per game (26.7), and is third among shorthanded time on ice, with 2:24 of penalty-kill time logged per game for the league’s third best penalty killing unit. Seidenberg’s also contributed a team-leading 66 blocked shots to the Bruins’ defense, and has the team’s fifth best PDO at 1035.

He’s simply not a player that you can replace overnight. But that’s the task the B’s have been left with.

A Saturday night tryout for Zach Trotman, a 6-foot-3 blue-liner, came and went with the 23-year-old finishing the night with three shots on goal in 16:41 of ice time. But with Trotman returned to the minors on Sunday afternoon, a Monday (emergency) call up of Kevan Miller has seemingly told us that it’s going to be his job to lose. In nine games this season, the 26-year-old Miller has undoubtedly done what you’ve asked of him. He’s recorded one goal and two points, posted a plus-2 rating, and has 16 hits and 19 blocked shots. Some Seidenberg-esque numbers.

However, that’s been in a role lesser than that of Seidenberg’s.

To expect Miller, whose biggest moment as a Bruin came in the waning moments of a Pittsburgh-Boston game where he and Zdeno Chara kept the Pens from scoring a last-second game-tying goal, to be as strong (or even better) than Seids seems unrealistic.

Similar to last year’s second round series with the New York Rangers -- which began with the Bruins without the services of Seidenberg, Andrew Ference, and Wade Redden -- the Bruins are set to rely on their youth in the short term, with Torey Krug, Matt Bartkowski, and Miller set to shoulder more responsibility.

A situation that leaves guys like Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk, and Adam McQuaid with the job of stepping up and logging even more minutes (an obviously unwanted situation given the Bruins’ insistence on lessening Chara’s workload in 2013-14), one just has to wonder how long the Bruins can realistically roll with this brigade before looking outside of their box.

That’s why the Bruins’ recent dip into the open market comes as no real surprise.

According to a source, the Bruins have reportedly kicked the tires on the New York Rangers’ defensemen and alternate captain, Dan Girardi. A pending unrestricted free agent, and with the Rangers in their own version of cap-hell given their prior commitments and future ones in need of being addressed (to Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan, most notably), Girardi is a player that could be sold in order for the Rangers to maximize their return in the now. But for the Blueshirts to be in any sort of sell-mode is crazy talk. In New York, it’s all about winning, and selling a piece like Girardi off sends a bad message, and that’s not even delving into his potential cost.

You like Ryan Spooner, right? You like Joe Morrow, right? That answers it.

With Seidenberg’s $3.25 million cap-hit finding its way to the long term injured reserve, the Bruins will certainly have some money to play with when it comes to adding a defensemen, but cheaper stopgaps may be what the Bruins are looking at this year (if anything), giving ‘em a few options.

Looking towards the basement of the Eastern Conference, the 30-year-old Tom Gilbert of the Florida Panthers presents Boston with a chance to nab a versatile blue-liner. Tallying two goals and 15 points in 40 games for the woeful Panthers in 2013-14, Gilbert comes with a $900,000 cap-hit and has the ability to step into a power-play role if possible, but also comes with the rugged style that the Bruins would look for out of a mid-tier defensemen. It also doesn’t hurt that the Bruins and Panthers have a recent history of trading with one another, and that the Panthers will certainly be in sell-mode barring an unforeseen rise into the playoff hunt (they’re currently 10 points out).

Gilbert’s not the Bruins’ only other option in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa’s Chris Phillips has been a guy the Bruins have seemingly always been fixated on. The 35-year-old Phillips has been a career long Senator (and we all know Peter Chiarelli’s love affair with his former club), and while his best days undoubtedly seem to be behind him, Phillips is a player that again, brings the approach and style that the Bruins would love to pair with one of their younger blue-liners.

Buffalo’s Henrik Tallinder also presents the Bruins with yet another minute-eating option.

But if the ship doesn’t right itself soon, the Bruins’ most likely target could become the Winnipeg Jets’ defensemen and former Bruin, Mark Stuart. Prior to the acquisition of Seidenberg in 2010, Stuart was the Bruins’ version of Seidenberg. He blocked everything thrown his way, was never one to shy away from the physical side of play, and was an all around accountable asset.

For Boston, bringing somebody like Stuart, a player that knows the system and expectations, is intriguing based on not only his aforementioned skill-set, but the price. Stuart, despite the A on his jersey most nights, is not necessarily a sexy name, and could be the ideal fit into the Boston six.

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