Buoyed by an overtime win on Tuesday night, Kevin Lowe rewarded his troops with a move for the present and maybe the near future on Wednesday afternoon when he acquired centre Petr Nedved and goaltender Jussi Markkanen from the New York Rangers in exchange for University Of Michigan prospect Dwight Helminen, minor league netminder Steve Valliquette and a previously acquired 2nd round pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Nedved just turned 32 in early December and is slated to make $4.75 million this season. His pro-rated salary over the remaining 16 games amounts to just under 927K for the rest of the season. He also has a club option for $5 million next season and with the Oilers having the option of cutting loose such current underachievers as Brad Isbister, 1.925 mill, Tommy Salo, currently making 3.9 mill with the team holding a club option come this summer and Adam Oates, currently making 1.95 mill, albeit prorated and becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that the Oilers could try and bring Nedved back for roughly what he's making this season or maybe a little less, say around the 3.5 to 4 mill range.

It would be hard to imagine Nedved getting a better or even similar offer if he were to try the open market.

Earlier in the season the Oilers signed Adam Oates in an effort to soften the pivot blow of having to deal Comrie and that experiment has been a failure. The longterm injury problems of Marty Reasoner, just 17 GP this season, and in the interm, Mike York, has made the Oilers centre situation a shot in the dark at best. Not to mention that York, while having played down the middle while in college, had mostly been a wing before the '04 season.

The Oilers believe they depth at centre but it's very young depth in '03 draftee Jesse Niinmakki and '04 draftee Marc Andre Pouliot. Nedved in '05 could be the bridge that allows one of those young guys to gain another year of experience before being expected to contribute at the NHL level.

Current Oiler Radek Dvorak enjoyed his finest campaign to date back in the '01 season when he played on a line at MSG with Nedved and fellow Czech Jan Havlac so look for Dvorak and Nedved to once again re-unite and that would push current Dvorak centreman Jarrett Stoll back to the 4th line to supplant Mike Bisahi between Jason Chimera and Georges Laraque.

Here's a stats breakdown on Nedved: forecaster.ca

Jussi Markkanen is a name familiar to Oilers fans. He was Salo's backup in the '02-03 season and strugged in his second year when faced with more of a workload. His SV PCT this season is impressive but his GAA is over 2.50 as he's struggled with the burden that is playing behind the Rangers lack of defensive acumen.

Jussi was sent to the Rangers last summer in what was somewhat of a paper move that had New York dealing away the rights of UFA to be Brian Leetch so they could get something in return for him should he stray from his old team. Leetch, or more to the point his rights, came west for Jussi and a 4th rounder. The Rangers would eventually re-sign him and the Oilers would be awarded a compensatory 2nd round pick. The same second round pick which is now travelling back to New York in today's deal.

Also, Ty Conklin was subject to waivers this season so the Oilers decided to give him a one way deal and see what they had in the Alaskan netminder.

Markkanen was well liked among the Oilers and he had more good games than bad. With Tommy Salo suffering mightily in his last two starts and regular backup Ty Conklin suffering somewhat of a setback in his rehab, the Oilers most likely felt they needed someone other than Tyler Moss to trust with two or three starts down the stretch.

Makkanen is slated to make $642,500 this season and he has $750,000 left on his contract for next season.

Here are some stats on the agile netminder: forecaster.ca

Dwight Helminen was an Oilers 8th round pick in the '02 entry draft. He's currently listed at 5-10, 193 and he's playing in his junior year at the University of Michigan. He's tallied 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points in 32 games this season.

Here's his bio: mgoblue.com

Stephen Valliquete was signed as an UFA this summer and then he was Wade Brookbank before Wade Brookbank was Wade Brookbank, follow me here, as he was claimed on waivers twice in seven days in September. Florida first took him from the Oilers before Edmonton reclaimed him six days later.

He's still a few months shy of his 27th birthday and does have a massive frame working in his favour and has recently gone on an impressive run to jolt the Roadrunners back into the AHL playoff picture. He made one appearence with the Oilers this season in a blowout at Detriot.

Here's a look at some stats: hockeydb.com

Overall I really can't see anything but positives coming from this deal. The Oilers get a centre in Nedved who has lots of miles on him but is still young and has had remarkable past chemistry with Dvorak. Plus, as previously outlined, they now have some time to open a dialogue with him and explore the possibility of maybe bringing him back for maybe next season while their centre kids develop. In the interm you basically replace the offense of Mike Bisahi with Petr Nedved and the Oilers don't have to hold their breath to such an extent waiting for Mike York's return. Because the breathing is getting pretty laboured with just 16 games left and six points to climb and York being out at least another 7-10 days.

They also pickup an old standby in Markkanen and with the Oilers having the chance to unburden themselves of Tommy this spring, next year we could see a very cheap netminding tandem of Markkanen and Conklin with the Oilers obviously hoping Conklin can eventually take the starting ball and run with it. So the Oilers currently upgrade at backup, Jussi replacing Moss, and now they have another somewhat seasoned NHL netminder in their organization.

They do lose a 2nd round pick but they have the extra 1st rounder from the Flyers in the Comrie deal to soften that June blow and Lowe melds an 8th round selection into a tangible return for a rental player.

By comparison, the Montreal Canadians payroll is $10 million greater than ours and Alexei Kovalev's upside undoubtedly surpasses that of Nedved but when you look at Sather's deal from yesterday and then of today, here's how it shakes out. Kovalev makes nearly 1.5 mill more but he's also UFA at the end of the season and though the Oilers almost assuredly won't pick up Nedved's option as it, and I don't think they should mind you, at least it's there and means they can talk a little about prolonging their relationship.The Oilers prospect, Helminen, has proven less and looks lesser than the Habs prospect Balej. The Habs win the battle of the relinquishing of 2nd round draft picks because the Oilers pick will be more valuable than the Habs but a 2nd rounder is a 2nd rounder afterall.

But even if it's on somewhat of a lesser scale than we might have hoped, the Oilers address needs of theirs at centre and also at netminding. It means Lowe doesn't have to move Jason Smith for a centre and now he can keep him until the summer unless a deal comes along between now and next Tuesday that floors him. Operating with less money than Gainey, although admittedly acquiring a lesser talent, Lowe looks to have made a deal that comparitively helps his club nearly as much as Gainey's in the interm and he didn't give up anything close to resembling the farm.

And this move should appease all the fans that wanted Lowe to make a deal to help the team in the stretch.

More importantly, it didn't mean the Oilers GM had to hurt the future in doing so.