WILMINGTON — The Bruins and Panthers have worked out a deal that would send defenseman Dennis Seidenberg and the rights to Ohio State’s Matt Bartowski to Boston for forward Byron Bitz, Craig Weller and and a second round pick. the team confirmed the trade early Wednesday afternoon.

Following on the heels of the Bruins trade of Derek Morris, Boston has now sent two players on its NHL roster out of town.

Seidenberg is likely a rental for the Bruins at this point and comes at a cheaper price and what the they were paying for Morris as he has a 2009-10 cap hit of $2.25 million, about one million less than Morris. He is known as a puck moving defenseman who is good at blocking shots. He will become and unrestricted free agent this summer and turns 29-years-old on July 18.

Seidenberg signed a one year contract with the Panthers last summer and has played in 60 games for them this season with two goals, 21 assist, a plus/minus of -3 and 33 penalty minutes. He is likely to slot right into Morris’s spot in the defensive pairings, spending some time with Zdeno Chara though more likely on the second pair with Mark Stuart.

Bitz was a bit of surprise call-up for the Bruins last season and played well enough down the stretch to earn and NHL roster spot in training camp. But the former Cornell Big Red forward has not played well this year, posting a plus/minus of -9 with four goals and five assists in 45 games. If Chiarelli does not make another move that would effect the fourth line later today look for Vladimir Sobotka to get regular playing time while Steve Begin moves to his regular forward spot and Shawn Thornton stays on the ice.

Weller, a fifth round choice in 2000 (167th overall) was acquired by the Bruins from the Wild in the Chuck Kobasew trade and is switching teams once again to join the Panthers organization.

No word yet on exactly which second round picks have been traded in the Morris and Seidenberg trades and will update when we have the information.