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Devils’ Rolston and Salvador uneasy about unknown future with the team

Brian Rolston

New Jersey Devils’ Brian Rolston celebrates after his goal against Philadelphia Flyers’ Brian Boucher in the first period of an NHL first-round playoff hockey game, Sunday, April 18, 2010, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

AP

We’ve certainly talked more than enough lately about the potential effects of Ilya Kovalchuk re-signing with the Devils. We know, you’re probably tired of hearing about the whole thing and we don’t blame you. There are still a few things left for the Devils to do before the season starts, mainly clearing salary space.

Two names keep getting brought up as candidates to help the Devils get under the salary cap in Bryce Salvador and Brian Rolston. One downside to the business is that even those guys aren’t sure if they’ll be sticking around New Jersey or not as Rich Chere found out.

“No one wants to be part of leaving here. This is a great team with great chemistry,” defenseman Bryce Salvador told me. “The situation is, it’s going to be more than one player going. That’s just part of the business. Everyone understands that.

“For the Devils’ organization, they got a great player (in Kovalchuk). And the machine always changes. But I haven’t been thinking about it so much. The fact that I’ve been traded before, it doesn’t weigh so much on me.”

I guess having gone through the rigors and cold reality of the NHL world can make you a bit numb to being moved for one reason or another. But what if you’re someone like Brian Rolston with a no-trade clause and coming off two bad seasons in New Jersey? Reality is harsh.

“You talk about a no-trade. Teams can still trade you. It’s not black and white. You can have all those thoughts, but you just have to prepare yourself for the season and that’s what I did. I don’t really choose to think about that stuff.”

Yikes. We’d be happy to guess that when Rolston signed his four-year contract with the Devils two seasons ago, he had no designs on being sent out of town nor would he want to leave. Why else would you get a no-trade clause in your contract after all.

Then again, after two seasons where Rolston put up numbers similar to those he’d normally put up in one season, it’s proof that situations can change at a moment’s notice. Clearly neither player is excited at the prospect of potentially being moved from what should be a successful team but this is just how things work in the NHL with a salary cap in place.