OTTAWA — Dany Heatley, who forced a trade out of Ottawa, is still in the Senators' dressing room every day. He's not on the ice, though, and the Senators feel that will help them in the long run.

The walls of the Senators' room in Scotiabank Place are plastered with pictures of trophies

won and the names of players who reached milestones. Heatley's offensive wizardry is included.

He has the only two 50-goal seasons in Senators history, and two of the three 100-point

seasons belong to him.

But while his name will always be around, the Senators have happily created a new identity

now that the person is not. Gone are the days of Ottawa coaches sending Heatley and linemates

Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson over the boards seemingly every other shift. Instead, the

Senators have gone to a four-line attack.

"We've got four lines that can play real consistently, and we're rolling four lines over,

and it helps with how tough the schedule is," Spezza said before Saturday's game against the

Buffalo Sabres. "We think that we can wear teams down, and our depth should help us in the

long run."

Using four lines has been commonplace in many cities, including Buffalo, but it's a radical

concept in Canada's capital.

From 2005 to '08, the Senators relied overwhelmingly on their big three. Alfredsson,

Heatley and Spezza skated between 21 and 22 minutes a game. Things started to change last

season under new coach Cory Clouston, and it's really different this year. Alfredsson and

Spezza are under 20 minutes a game, leaving more ice time for other players.

"There's not too many games where we're getting taxed by playing huge, huge minutes, having

to tire players out in order to catch up on teams," Spezza said.

The three stars got the minutes because they deserved them. They formed arguably the most

potent line in hockey. But Heatley was sent to San Jose in September for forwards Milan

Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo, giving Clouston more players at his disposal.

"They've been great additions for us, fit in really well," Alfredsson said. "I think it was

a great situation that it happened early in camp so they could come in, be part of camp and

know the system once the season started."

Shipping out a disgruntled player was a no-brainer, but the move left the Senators with a

big question: Could they succeed with a huge offensive hole in their lineup? They are 11-6-3,

giving an early answer.

"We knew we were going to be a deeper team," Spezza said.

. . .

The Sabres were missing forwards Drew Stafford (lower body) and Mike Grier (groin). The

Senators were without Alex Kovalev and Shean Donovan. Kovalev was attending his

mother-in-law's funeral in Russia, while Donovan's season is over.

The right winger injured his medial collateral ligament during a knee-on-knee hit Thursday.

Clouston said rehabilitation will take six to eight months, and after that doctors will

determine whether the anterior cruciate ligament was hurt as well.

While many in Ottawa, including General Manager Bryan Murray, howled for Pittsburgh's Matt

Cooke to be disciplined, Clouston understands why there was none.

"It's hockey," he said. "There's a little bit of responsibility on the guy carrying the

puck, too. You look at some old clips of Bobby Orr getting kneed, it was inevitable he was

going to get some knee injuries. He tried beating guys one-on-one all the time through the

neutral zone, and when you do that sometimes you leave that leg out there a little bit more

than you should."