That's what happens when you're too busy writing about goaltending, you miss the moves that Bryan Murray actually had in the works. And pretty decisive moves they are too.



First, Jonathan Cheechoo was placed on waivers. That takes Cheechoo's $3 million salary off the books which boils down to $215,000 a point for the 14 points Cheechoo had racked up in 61 games. "Underperforming" doesn't even begin to cover it, although he did have a lot of character on the ice, was improving of late, and was well liked by his teammates.

With the cap room, Murray went to get the top-six forward he was hoping Cheechoo was going to become in Matt Cullen, and sent Alexandre Picard and a second round draft pick the other way in exchange. That's a good swap. Cullen has 12 goals and 28 assists so far this season, and could easily rack up 10 to 15 more points in the remaining season with the Sens, perhaps even more if he's put with the right people. Cullen is also a power play point man which could boost the Senators' PP up from the bowels of the league stats.

Picard was an inconsistent player on the defensive, but he does have an offensive punch to him with 4 goals and 11 assists is 45 games. The second-round draft pick for the 2010 draft was a smart choice as the depth of the talent pool this year is huge. A smart trade overall.

In the end, though, this is the Heatley trade coming back to haunt Murray. He was hoping to get value for value by getting both Milan Michalek and Cheechoo. Michalek is perfroming according to schedule as far as goals go, but not so well on the assists side of the sheet. Kind of a good news, bad news thing. Cullen basically steps in to take Cheechoo's place and provide the missing goals that Heatley used to provide.