Senators swap Schaefer for B's Donovan...

Our amigo Eklund is reporting this deal as an "e5", which means it's infallible and that the deal will be posted soon, and quite frankly, Sens fans should really shut their eyes and not read the innuendo that follows.

In one of those rare inter-division deals, Boston sends the 32-year old Shean Donovan to the Senators for winger Peter Schaefer.

Donovan had 7 goals and 11 assists in 76 contests for the Bruins last season for a total of 19 points, mainly as a 4th liner while his counterpart, Schaefer, more than doubled his point total, scoring 12 goals and adding 34 assists for 46 points in Ottawa.

Boston just fleeced Bryan Murray so badly, they dumped a declining checking line player, who seems to have lost that offensive spunk he showed with the Flames a few years ago, and got back a quality secondary scoring player, who can bring a consistent offensive game to the table.
Schaefer was long rumoured to be on Byran Murray's chopping block, but one couldn't imagine him giving up a decent scoring liner for a mediocre and borderline NHL player, even if it meant dumping an annual salary in the area of $2.3 million over the next few seasons.

But on the other hand, Murray had his reasons for doing this.

As Darren Dreger so gleefully pointed out last week, the Senators still don't have Jason Spezza and perhaps more importantly, 50-goal scorer Dany Heatley under contract for the 2008-2009 season, making them potential restricted and unrestricted free-agent in less than 365 days, respectively.
Heatley is expected to break the bank for whatever teams signs him, whether it's Ottawa or someone else while Spezza's current $5 million salary could take a serious hike should he elect to go to arbitration.
The enigmatic and ever-frustrating Wade Redden will also be able to hit the open market, and he would surely be an attractive defenceman to own for many GM's, even if his game isn't what is was 2 years ago.

So, in short, Murray got fleeced, but he gave up a good 2nd liner in hopes of retaining an elite 50-goal scorer, an all-star centre and...Wade Redden, not to mention the many restricted free-agents he has to deal with such as Antoine Vermette and Patrick Eaves.

The move clears up more than 1 million in cap space, still a small step, and don't be surprised if Murray makes any other eye-shocking deals to save his team's core (Spezza, Heatley, Redden) sometime this season.

--BBR