COMMENTARY
Division foes improve as Sabres snooze
Senators General Manager Bryan Murray made an interesting move this week when he signed Alex Kovalev away from the Canadiens, giving his team some much-needed depth up front while prepping the organization for the likely departure of whiny winger Dany Heatley.
Kovalev is a different sort, one who needed a few mental health days last season after crumbling under the pressure that comes with playing in Montreal. He's no Heatley at this stage in their careers, but at age 36 he remains among the better forwards in the league and worth $10 million over two years.
That alone makes it a good move.
The Senators will be toast in virtually any trade involving Heatley after he robbed them of their leverage. He has a no-trade clause and wants to play for a good team. Good teams aren't lining up to trade good players to make room for him and the $35 million left on his contract. Kovalev helps lessen the sting and gives the Senators a few options.
Leafs GM Brian Burke stiffened his blue line last week when he locked up Mike Komisarek with a five-year contract worth $22.5 million and added bruiser Francois Beauchemin on Monday with a three-year deal worth $11.4 million. He landed Jonas Gustavsson, the best goalie in Europe, for $810,000. All three were good buys.
There's good buys, and there's goodbyes. Montreal has been familiar with both during a dizzy week. The Habs lost good players in Komisarek and Kovalev, will likely lose Saku Koivu and could be without Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang. But they picked up Scott Gomez in the swap that sent Christopher Higgins to the Rangers and signed free agents Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta and Jaroslav Spacek. Not great, but not bad.
We could argue all day about the Habs, but at least they're willing to overhaul their roster and make the attempt to get back into contention. They knew their chemistry was poor, so they fired their coach and made drastic personnel changes. And, remember, they actually made the playoffs last season.
The Bruins have been quiet in free agency but they're keeping a good team together. They re- signed goalie Tim Thomas in April, locked up David Krejci last week and kept Mark Recchi. They're still looking to sign or trade Phil Kessel. Either way, they'll be fine.
You can see where this is going.
Take a few twirls around the Northeast Division, and all but one team is either making significant attempts to improve or doing what they can to keep what's in place. The Senators and Canadiens have playoff talent. Boston should be back near the top of the division. The Leafs will only get better.
The Sabres are doing, well, nothing. Their idea of upgrading the organization so far has been signing Steve Montador. What, Doug Janik wasn't available? If anything, they're actually worse. Spacek wasn't worth the money he's collecting from Montreal, but dropping him and adding Montador is a net loss.
Say what you will about the Bills, who have been dawdling toward nowhere for yearsbut at least they signed Terrell Owens and used his star power to effectively turn the attention, for now, away from Dick Jauron. At least you know what they're selling.
The Sabres, meanwhile, are selling ... well ... what, exactly? They finished 10th in the conference last season. They haven't signed Drew Stafford or any other restricted free agents. They haven't made any trades, which is supposedly the plan. To improve they'll need much more than the Craig Rivet-type moves they made last year.
Bet the house on some flunky in the organization explaining away another listless summer by saying how they tried signing players but couldn't convince them to come here, the old blame-Buffalo excuse, without understanding the reason why.
The problem isn't Buffalo the town, fellas, it's Buffalo the team.
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