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Bryce Salvador undergoes testing for ‘ear situation'; Status currently unclear

Philadelphia Flyers v New Jersey Devils

of the Philadelphia Flyers of the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on September 28, 2010 in Newark, New Jersey.

Bruce Bennett

As Joe briefly mentioned in last night’s recaps, New Jersey Devils defenseman Bryce Salvador left last night’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers because of a James van Riemsdyk hit.

The Bergen Record’s Fire & Ice blog has been all over the situation, even if information regarding the situation has been quite slim. Initially the team insisted that Salvador was “fine,” then the Devils announced that the defenseman will undergo testing for an “ear situation” and Art Stapleton wrote that GM Lou Lamoriello seemed more concerned a day after the incident.

Stapleton provided one final update here, with quotes from head coach John MacLean.

*On whether he is planning on being without Salvador for a couple games: “I don’t know about couple games. He went for tests. Today we had nine defensemen out there. As far as I know, he went for tests and we’ll see what happens when the tests come back.”

After saying Salvador was “fine” after Tuesday’s preseason game, MacLean said he was not surprised to hear Salvador was going for tests: “That’s a just procedural thing. He’s going for tests to make sure that he is fine, and we’re waiting to hear.”

* Basically made it seem like Salvador’s absence is a number thing for now as far as having enough defensemen to practice with. The severity of the injury is unclear at this time, and the Devils were not expected to make any further updates on Salvador’s situation, presumably until tomorrow.

“We’re in a holding pattern to a certain extent, but we had nine defensemen out there,” MacLean said. “It’s not like we had four and it was like, ‘Oh, we need the fifth one.’ It’s training camp. We’ve got some guys here and some guys will get to play.”

Salvador’s name has been bandied about in many of the conversations regarding the Devils clearing salary cap space now that Ilya Kovalchuk’s impact is being accounted for, but his injury status is up in the air. If his condition is closer to a concussion than simple “ringing in the ears,” it could be a similar situation to Marc Savard’s in Boston. Neither team wants that specific player to go on the long-term injured reserve, but in both cases, the absence of their cap hits would allow their teams to avoid making a tough decision now.

That being said, Salvador’s injury could be a simple day-to-day thing. We’ll keep you updated as Stapleton notes that it might take a day or two for more to be known about Salvador’s condition.