A few moves of note this afternoon, all involving the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens in one way or another.

• After being "signed" on several occasions during the Free Agent Frenzy due to false-start reporting, former Montreal Canadiens star Alexei Kovalev(notes) appears to have avoided the sirens' song of the KHL to ink a deal with the Ottawa Senators, as FAN 590 was first to report this afternoon (since confirmed by TSN).

An enigmatic player goes to the city of enigmatic players; a two-year deal at $5 million on the cap per season, which is a raise from last season. Guess Kovalev needed some "convincing" to play for Ottawa ...

So no Kovalev as the new elder Russian statesman for the Washington Capitals. No Kovalev taking a huge discount to skate around with the Pittsburgh Penguins. No Kovalev floating through the power play with Gaborik on the New York Rangers. We've all no doubt had our hockey daydreams about where he'd end up after the Habs cast him aside ... but Kovalev's always been a more interesting player in theory than in reality, hasn't he?

He'll work well if given the right role, which in our opinion would be a second-line offensive engine and special teams player. The Senators' depth scoring last year was nonexistent. If Kovalev posts 26 goals and 65 points again in a secondary role, it could work; but one assumes he'll be pressed into first-line duty depending on when the Dany Heatley(notes) situation plays out.

Or maybe Kovalev just becomes another Ottawa Senators underachiever. You know, for a change.

• It's not so much that Brian Burke is rebuilding the Leafs from the goal crease out, because you'd need a goalie to do that. It's more like building a great sandwich with some fine cold cuts to start, and then figuring out the bread and condiments situation later -- even if that's what actually makes the meal.

So Anaheim Ducks UFA defenseman Francois Beauchemin(notes) inks a three-year deal with an average cap hit of $3.8 million per season with the Leafs, joining Mike Komisarek(notes) and Garnet Exelby(notes) on a reconfigured blue line. Those games between the Habs forwards and Leafs D-men will be interesting next year ... at least for pinball fans.

Beauchemin gets a contract with a higher cap hit than Stanley Cup champion Rob Scuderi(notes) ($3.4 million). Leafs fans are demanding a higher grade in our report card. We'll wait for the parent/teacher conference for that discussion.

• Finally, former Leafs keeper Andrew Raycroft was signed by the Vancouver Canucks in an attempt to prove that fear of team failure is just as effective as friendly competition in pushing a starting goalie to new heights.

Related: Rumors, scuttlebutt, innuendo