Devils re-sign Salvador, Pandolfo

TSN.ca Staff

7/1/2008 1:30:55 PM

The New Jersey Devils and defenceman Bryce Salvador have agreed to terms on a four-year deal worth an average of $2.9 million per season.

The Devils have also re-signed left wing Jay Pandolfo and declined an option on forward Sergei Brylin, according to the Bergen Record. The team also re-signed David Clarkson and Barry Tallackson, plus recent draftees Matt Halischuk and Vladimir Zharkov.

Salvador, 32, was acquired by the Devils in a trade that sent Cam Janssen to St. Louis at the trade deadline and he had zero points in eight games with the Devils before suffering a fractured clavicle and missing the final 14 games of the season.

A reliable defensive defenceman, Salvador has 63 points and a minus-15 rating in 455 career games but was a career-best plus-12 in 2007-2008.

Pandolfo, an 11-year veteran, had 12 goals and 24 points in 54 games last season. He signed for three years and $7.5 million with a no-trade clause.

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said it came down to a choice between Pandalfo and Brylin.

"The role that they play and the style they play with what we have to do with our offence, I don't think we could keep both at this point," Lamoriello said. "It was a very very difficult situation to make the decision.

"In both best interests to give him an opportunity, we did not exercise our option."