-The Ottawa Senators resolved their need for experienced blueline depth by signing former Philadelphia Flyer Jason Smith to a two-year contract. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

It was rumored Senators GM Bryan Murray was in the market for a trade with Anaheim for Mathieu Schneider or San Jose for Kyle McLaren. Smith’s signing negates the need for the latter and appear to indicate they’ll re-sign Andrej Meszaros which would remove the need for Schneider

Smith was believed in talks with the Buffalo Sabres but evidently he liked what the Sens had to offer. His gritty performance in this spring’s playoffs, particularly against Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, raise his stock on the UFA market, and heading into this week was the best available blueliner left on the market.

-Reports claim Pavol Demitra is either close to signing or has signed a multi-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks.

That could raise complaints of tampering from some Minnesota Wild fans given Demitra’s spring sojourn to Vancouver as the guest of former Canucks captain Markus Naslund as well as the fact Mike Gillis, the Canucks new general manager, is Demitra’s former agent.

The league already looked into that matter and found no evidence of tampering. Gillis’ previous relationship with Demitra obviously has some influence but the bottom line is the Canucks desperately need offensive depth and are willing to consider taking on an aging, injury-prone forward.

-Speaking of the Canucks, they now have seven days to decide if they’ll keep forward Steve Bernier.

The St. Louis Blues signed Bernier, who was acquired from the Sabres last week by the Canucks, to a one-year contract offer sheet worth $2.5 million.

Consider that a bit of revenge on the part of Blues president John Davidson for Gillis’ attempt last week to sign forward David Backes to a three-year, $7.5 million contract offer sheet, which the Blues matched almost immediately.

Gillis will likely match this offer but like the Blues with Backes will end up paying him more than desired.

**UPDATE** As expected the Canucks management announced they would match the Blues offer sheet for Bernier.

-Defenseman Paul Mara is returning to the NY Rangers, signing a one-year, $1.95 million contract, a significant cut in pay from the $3 million he made last season with the Blueshirts.

Given that fact it’s a good bet he wasn’t attracting much interest or offers of note from rival clubs on the UFA market.

It may be the start of the Independence Day long weekend in the United States but  Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier had a busy Fourth of July.

Regier first dealt forward Steve Bernier to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a draft pick next season and in 2010, then acquired defenseman Craig Rivet from the San Jose Sharks. It’s believed those picks were the ones acquired from the Canucks.

Bernier’s now on this third team in a year, having been shipped to the Sabres from the San Jose Sharks last February. He made a sensation debut in his first game with the Sabres, scoring twice and defending Derek Roy late in the game, endearing himself to the Sabres faithful, but his production tailed off in the final games of the season.

The Canucks will be hoping he can provide some much-needed scoring depth in the wake of the departures of Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison to free agency.

Regier was seeking a veteran defenseman with Dmitri Kalinin signed by the Rangers and Teppo Numminen not expected to return. It had been rumored Maxim Afinogenov might be dangled but his poor performance last season may have scared off suitors.

Rivet had one of his best season of his career in 2007-08 with the Sharks, with a career-best 35 point performance, and having played most of his career with the Montreal Canadiens he’s no stranger to the Eastern Conference and the Northeast Division.

He’s signed through to 2010-11 at $3.5 million per season and with his experience could be a good addition to the Sabres defense corps.

Reports out of Buffalo on Monday claiming Brian Campbell had played his final game with the Sabres turned out to be true, as the Sabres dealt him to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forward Steve Bernier and a first round pick.

Sharks GM Doug Wilson had been shopping for an experienced puck-moving defenseman all season and in Campbell he’s got exactly what his team needed.

Campbell is comparable to Montreal’s Alexei Markov in style, plus he also plays a good physical game for a blueliner of his size (6’, 190 lbs).

It also shows the Sabres weren’t willing to risk losing Campbell for nothing as they’d done in the recent past with other notable unrestricted free agents.

In Bernier the Sabres are getting a forward who has yet to deliver on the promise he displayed in his rookie season of 2005-06 when he had 27 points in 39 games. Still, at only 22 Bernier has plenty of time to improve, and might fit in well on a young, speedy Sabres team.