The Devils say they have stopped their back-line bleeding – but they may have done it with a Band-Aid.

GM Lou Lamoriello yesterday signed 26-year-old Sean Brown, a free agent defenseman who couldn’t crack the Bruins’ blueline corps last year and was a healthy scratch for Boston’s entire first-round loss to the Devils.

The Devils are in the process of turning over half of last season’s eight-man defense. Ken Daneyko retired this month after playing the most games in Devils’ history. Oleg Tverdovsky, Richard Smehlik and Tommy Albelin are unrestricted free agents.

Brown earned $673,000 last season. He was Boston’s first-round pick in 1995, but has yet to fulfill that promise. While he was a junior, he was dealt to Edmonton for Bill Ranford. He was shipped back to Boston for Bobby Allen in March of 2002.

In 69 games last season, the Ontario native limped along as a fourth-line forward, going 1-5-6 with 117 penalty minutes and a plus-minus ratio of negative-six. The Devils hope to use him on defense.

“We believe that in our system he can provide the kind of competitiveness and physicality that Ken Daneyko did,” Lamoriello said.