Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson continues to overhaul his roster, today swapping two forwards for two defensemen.

Howson dealt Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche to the NY Rangers for blueliners Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin.

The deal ends the Blue Jackets long saga with the enigmatic Zherdev, the fourth overall pick in the 2003 entry draft, as he was as maddening with his inconsistency as he was dazzling with his skills.

This move certainly bolsters the depth of the Jackets defense corps but still doesn’t address their need for a top-two blueliner.

Backman, whom the Rangers acquired from St. Louis at the trade deadline, was disappointing in his short tenure in New York and the Blueshirts signing of Wade Redden meant his days were numbered there. Tyutin had been re-signed to a four-year contract extension by the Rangers last season and was thought to have a career in New York.

The Rangers had been linked to Zherdev and Fritsche in trade speculation mid-way through last season and at one point it was thought a deal between the two sides was imminent before it apparently fell through.

Zherdev is a good offensive winger when he’s motivated to play and Fritsche will provide depth to the Rangers checking lines.

With Zherdev now on the Rangers roster one wonders how long winger Petr Prucha will remain a Blueshirt, as he was unable to land a permanent spot on the Blueshirts top two lines this past season and was once named as a potential return to the Jackets in those trade rumors last season.

While speculation brews the New York Rangers might pursue a veteran defenseman by the February 26th trade deadline, the club over the weekend retained two of their better young blueliners.

On Saturday the Rangers re-signed Dan Girardi to a two-year, $3.1 million contract extension. The deal will pay Girardi $1.5 million for the 2008-09 season and $1.6 million for 2009-10. This season he’s making $550K so he’s more than doubled his money per season.

The Blueshirts followed that up on Sunday by re-signing Fedor Tyutin to a four-year, $11.4 million contract, which breaks down to $2.85 million per season against the team’s salary cap starting next season.

Girardi and Tyutin, along with rookie Marc Staal, represent the future of the Rangers blueline corps. Giardi in only his second NHL season has demonstrated promising offensive skills, while Tyutin is considered to have good all-round defensive skills.

If these two continue to develop as hoped these re-signings could be considered bargains. Currently they won’t take up too much of the Rangers cap space heading into this summer leaving them enough cap space to re-sign other key players or to go shopping in this summer’s unrestricted free agent market.

With veterans Paul Mara, Marek Malik and Michal Rozsival all eligible for UFA status this summer, and the certainty that one of them (Malik) won’t be back, it was a wise decision by Rangers management to lock up Girardi and Tyutin now.