The Columbus Blue Jackets made no secret heading into the 2008 NHL Entry Draft they were in the market for depth at center and were willing to peddle one of their two first round picks to land a scoring center.

During the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft they managed to land one, shipping the 19th overall pick and the 67th overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for center R.J. Umberger and the 119th pick overall.

The Flyers would’ve preferred to re-sign Umberger, who in his third NHL season had a breakout performance with 50 points in the regular season and 10 goals in 17 playoff games, but with the club either re-signing, or on the verge of re-signing, center Jeff Carter to a multi-year deal and needing to bolster their blueline they had no choice but to cut him loose.

Umberger should be a strong acquisition for the Blue Jackets, who desperately needed a scoring center for Rick Nash’s line. It's possible the Jackets could try to bring in a better center than the 26-year-old Umberger but if so he could at the very least provide depth to their second line scoring.

He’s also a restricted free agent but given the Blue Jackets $20 million in cap space it shouldn’t take too long to get him under contract.

With the Jackets also selecting Russian winger Nikita Filatov sixth overall in the draft the Blue Jackets have made significant strides in bolstering their scoring depth both now and in the future.

The fear of the offer sheet has once again resulted in another potential restricted free agent being re-signed well before the summer of 2008.

This time it's center Mike Richards, who today has reportedly re-signed a contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Reportedly Richards' new contract is for twelve years and $69 million, breaking down to a cap hit of $5.75 million per season, with a "no-trade" clause that begins in the 2011-12 season. It's the second-longest contract in the NHL, behind the fifteen-year deal of the NY Islanders' Rick DiPietro.

It's not surprising that Holmgren made this move. Richards is enjoying a breakout season, leading the Flyers in goals, assists and points, but he's also perhaps their best defensive forward, with a+10 rating and is the only player on the team to score shorthanded this season, having done it three times.

Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had earlier stated his intent to re-sign his key RFAs like Richards, including forwards Jeff Carter and RJ Umberber, and we can likely expect more re-signing by Holmgren as the season progresses.

He obviously has no intention of allowing contract negotiations with his best RFAs to drag into next summer when those players could become potential offer sheet targets.

A number of talented young players are eligible for restricted free agent status next summer, including Washington's Alexander Ovechkin, Calgary's Dion Phaneuf, Florida's Jay Bouwmeester, Nashville's Shea Weber, Ottawa's Andrej Meszaros and St. Louis' Brad Boyes

But that list has been slowly but steadily shrinking, and most if not all of the aforementioned will likely re-sign with their current teams well before July 1, 2008.

**UPDATE** James Mirtle has a very interesting take on this signing on his blog, specifically the dangers lurking behind such lengthy contracts, citing Jose Theodore, Jim Carey and Sergei Samsonov to make the case. Even NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman privately doesn't believe they're a good idea under this CBA as it offers no opportunity for re-negotiation.

I concur with Mirtle and Bettman on this. While I understand the rationale behind these contracts, the length is fraught with peril, and if the player signed to that deal ends up a spent force midway through, it's a lot of precious cap space per season tied up in one player. Even demoting said player to the minors or buying them out is still a costly experienced for a team, even if it doesn't count against their cap space.