Bruins make another move on backend

Don Sweeney and the Bruins made yet another move involving their blue line Monday, as the team placed veteran defenseman Anton Stralman on waivers.

Stralman, who turned a professional tryout into a one-year contract with the Bruins back in October, hits the waiver wire after eight NHL appearances this season.

The 36-year-old Stralman is the second B’s defenseman to hit waivers in the last month, as the team placed Mike Reilly on waivers ahead of Charlie McAvoy’s return, and remain on the hunt for a trade partner for Reilly.

And similar to the Reilly situation, Stralman’s trip to the waiver wire appears to come as a result of another B’s defenseman being close to ready for a return to action, with Derek Forbort ‘close’ to 100 percent.

And though it’s not necessarily a roster number issue, it is a cap issue for the Bruins, who could not activate Forbort off the long-term injured reserve without making an additional move. That, in this case, was Stralman.

It was a bit of an odd journey for Stralman in Boston this season.

In addition to starting camp late because he was unsure whether or not he wanted to report on a tryout, visa issues delayed his jump into action for the Bruins, and the strong play from players such as Forbort and Connor Clifton really limited his opportunities to break into the B’s lineup and stick in the B’s lineup.

And it became borderline impossible once the Bruins were fully healthy with Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy back in action for Jim Montgomery’s squad.

Now available to be claimed by 31 other teams, Stralman’s fate will remain unknown until 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

It seems unlikely that Stralman will be claimed — younger and more productive players have slipped through the cracks this season and there’s an awful lot of teams working through LTIR pools — but it is possible given his lengthy NHL resume and ability to play both the left and right side without a noticeable dip in his game.

If Stralman is unclaimed, he will report to the P-Bruins.

A veteran of 938 NHL games, Stralman remains the proverbial next man up on the right side of the Bruins’ defensive organizational depth chart should he go unclaimed and report to the P-Bruins.

Stralman’s departure also makes Jakub Zboril the lone projected healthy scratch on the backend for the Bruins should Forbort be fully ready to be activated and jump back into action for the Bruins.