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.