Busy day in the NHL today.

You’ll recall in my last blog post I outlined three of the Philadelphia Flyers’ organizational needs. Let’s take a look at how they addressed them today.

NEED: Top-line right wing

The Flyers announced today they signed perennial NHL All-Star Jaromir Jagr to a one-year contract. Jagr, who has more than 600 NHL goals to his credit, last played in North America during the 2007-08 season as a member of the New York Rangers. Jagr, 39, spent the past three seasons in Russia with the Kontinental Hockey League’s Omsk Avangard.

NEED: Veteran center

The Flyers signed checking-line center Maxime Talbot to a five-year contract. Talbot, formerly of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is a solid checking-line center that will either play on Philadelphia’s third or fourth line.

NEED: A seventh defenseman.

Philadelphia signed journeyman blueliner Andreas Lilja to round out its top seven – Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Andrej Meszaros, Matt Carle, Lilja, Braydon Coburn and Oskars Bartulis.

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Meanwhile, the Flyers agreed to terms with restricted free agent Jakub Voracek, who was acquired in the deal that sent Jeff Carter to Columbus. They also shipped winger Kris Versteeg to the Florida Panthers for draft picks.

Elsewhere, ex-Flyer Ville Leino signed a long-term deal with Buffalo.

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So, what does this mean?

Well, let’s take a look at the handy-dandy depth chart.

LEFT WING	CENTER	RIGHT WING	DEFENSE	GOALIE
HARTNELL	BRIERE	JAGR	PRONGER	BRYZGALOV	1
van RIEMSDYK	GIROUX	VORACEK	TIMONEN	BOBROVSKY	2
SHELLEY	TALBOT	SIMMONDS	MESZAROS	LEIGHTON	3
WELLWOOD	SCHENN	NODL	CARLE	BACKLUND	4
RINALDO	BETTS	LEGEIN	LILJA	HOVINEN	5
SESTITO	HOLMSTROM	M. TESTUWIDE	COBURN		6
ROWE	PITHER	AKESON	BARTULIS		7
BROWN	READ	HARPER	WALKER		8
ZOLNIERCZYK	KALINSKI	LAPERRIERE	GUSTAFSSON		9
			BOURDON		10
			MARSHALL		11
			JANCEVSKI		12
			MANNING		13
			LAURIDSEN		14
			HOSTETTER		15
			LEHTIVUORI		16
SIGNED	RFA Q	UNKNOWN	LONG TERM IR

I’d say with Talbot signed, there’s a decent chance top prospect Brayden Schenn starts the year in Adirondack.

Schenn will be given every opportunity to earn his spot in Philadelphia during training camp, but the team now has four NHL-ready centers in Briere, Giroux, Talbot and Betts. No need to rush the kid.

Depending on whether or not Stefan Legein is signed (which you can read more about in my previous blog post), Philadelphia has 45 or 46 players under contract.

For argument’s sake, let’s say he is signed and the Flyers have 46 contracts.

The team also has outstanding qualifying offers to Wayne Simmonds and Jon Kalinski. If both of those players sign, Philly’s contract total is up to 48. The NHL limit is 50.

Barring a trade, you’re looking at maybe one more signing from Philadelphia. And with Versteeg gone, it could very well be an NHL-ready left wing.

With NHL free agency set to begin July 1, the parent club of the American Hockey League’s Adirondack Phantoms has multiple needs to address, but not a lot of flexibility.

As of Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers had spent $57.5 million towards next season’s $64.3 million salary cap, according to the NHL salary-tracking website www.capgeek.com.

The Flyers have about $6.7 million in salary cap space – one of the slimmest totals in the 30-team NHL – and they still need to agree to terms with three forwards to round out their NHL roster.

The Flyers have extended qualifying offers to right wings Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds, acquired last week in trades that sent centers Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to the Western Conference, but the Flyers still need to sign a scoring winger to round out their top-six.

That could be Ville Leino, but the right wing is due for a hefty raise. An unrestricted free agent, one of the key components of Philly’s 2010 run to the Stanley Cup finals is sure to attract some enticing offers from other NHL clubs.

Here’s a look at how Philadelphia’s organizational depth chart is shaping up.

LEFT WING	CENTER	RIGHT WING	DEFENSE	GOALIE
HARTNELL	BRIERE	LEINO	PRONGER	BRYZGALOV	1
van RIEMSDYK	GIROUX	VORACEK	TIMMONEN	BOBROVSKY	2
VERSTEEG	SCHENN	SIMMONDS	MESZAROS	LEIGHTON	3
SHELLEY	BETTS	NODL	CARLE	BACKLUND	4
WELLWOOD	READ	LAPERRIERE	COBURN	HOVINEN	5
RINALDO	HOLMSTROM	M. TESTUWIDE	BARTULIS		6
SESTITO	PITHER	AKESON	GUSTAFSSON		7
ROWE	KALINSKI	HARPER	WALKER		8
BROWN		LEGEIN	BOURDON		9
ZOLNIERCZYK			MARSHALL		10
			JANCEVSKI		11
			MANNING		12
			LAURIDSEN		13
			HOSTETTER		14
			LEHTIVUORI		15

SIGNED

RFA Q

UFA

LONG TERM IR

UNKNOWN

There are some clear organizational needs that need addressing.

1.      The Flyers really, really need a top-tier right winger. That’s probably the biggest hole in an otherwise solid NHL lineup.

2.      They could also really use a veteran two-way center, someone who could play on a checking line in the NHL, but also score some goals at the American Hockey League level for Adirondack.

Think Jeff Taffe, Ben Guite or Mike Zigomanis. This way, they don’t have to rush top prospect Brayden Schenn to the NHL if he’s not ready and they have someone to mentor the prospects like Denis Hamel did last year.

3.      They need to pick a seventh defenseman. That could be AHL All-Star Erik Gustafsson, veteran NHLer Matt Walker, or it could be a bargain free agent signing. With Leino likely to demand a sizable contract and Simmons and Voracek due for raises, Philadelphia isn’t going to have a ton of money to spend here.

Then again, if Schenn winds up in Adirondack, they’re going to have an extra $3 million to work with. If Laperriere goes on long-term injury reserve, they’ll get another $1 million and change.

4.      Stefan Legein’s contract status is in question. CapGeek had him as a restricted free agent until Monday night, when they switched his status to contracted through 2011-12.

This is puzzling, because he turned pro midway through 2008 and this past season was his third professional campaign. His entry-level contract, then, should be expired.

I’m not sure how his decision to retire before the 2008 season shaped his contract – he didn’t play a pro game until January 2009 – but if it was expired, Philadelphia didn’t extend him a qualifying offer so he’s now an unrestricted free agent.

Depending on what happens with Legein, the Flyers either have 42 or 43 players under contract for 2011-12. Add three to that number because of the qualifying offers and you’re at 45 or 46. The NHL limit is 50.

The top-tier winger, Leino or someone else, is another contract. So that’s 46 or 47.

Many teams don’t use all 50 contracts because they like to have some flexibility for trading, so you’re looking at Philadelphia adding two or three more NHL contracts during free agency.

Then again, Philadelphia could always make a trade and have a lot more flexibility.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what the Broad Street Brass does.