Salvador would prefer to stay with Devils; knows he’s “third in line”

As we’ve mentioned before, the New Jersey Devils have plenty of questions to answer this off-season, even after they settle the Zach Parise and Martin Brodeur situations. After an unlikely-hot postseason run, retaining defenseman Bryce Salvador ranks as one of the most prominent conundrums. Tom Gulitti caught up with Salvador, who said that he hopes to stay in New Jersey but understands the franchise’s priorities.

“I think I’m third in line,” Salvador told me today. “We’ll see what happens with Zach and Marty first. There’s interest from both us and them, but there’s other things they have to figure out first. So, we’ll just kind of see how it plays out. It’s going to be an interesting next couple of days.”

Again, Salvador would prefer to continue his run as a member of the Devils, yet it’s not too surprising that he’s fairly optimistic about the situation.

“I think it’s pretty exciting just the prospect of going into free agency and the way things have gone the last couple of years from not playing and then coming back and then being in a position that if for some reason something doesn’t work out with the Devils, I’ll be playing (somewhere),” Salvador said. “That’s kind of how I look at it. My first choice is the Devils, but I’m just more glad I’m in the position that I’m able to continue to play. That’s kind of been my goal and my focus.”

Salvador said that he’ll take his time before making a decision. Gulitti points out that he’s never been an unrestricted free agent before. Considering what might be a once-in-a-lifetime playoff performance, he picked a great time for that to happen.

Even if he sticks with the Devils.