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As a Flyers fan, I really really like this deal for a few reasons.
#1 is that the Flyers desperately need a true #2 center. I went back and forth over the summer as to whether handzus could be that and he was early on and he's come back down to earth. Handzus is best suited to be a #2 center and the Flyers have had trouble scoring in the past as a result of having to depend on one line, like they were recently with the Roenick line. If a Gagne-Comrie-Williams line is put together, that could be one hell of a line and take the pressure off of the Roenick line. This also helps against fast teams like Ottawa and New Jersey.
#2, I was never too high on Woywitka. I've seen Jeff in 2 rookie camps and multiple pre-season games and I wasn't too impressed with his game. I know that he supposedly does everything above average and nothing spectacular, but I see him as a future Eric Weinrich type player, #3 at the very best.
As for the #1 pick, i'm not too upset about giving it up. It will most likely be a pick in the 27-30 range and it seems that the '04 draft is fairly top heavy, with 10-15 very good players and then a crap shoot.
The Flyers dealt from a position of strength and still look decent at defense for the future. They also now have Gagne, Comrie, Williams, Carter, Richards, Handzus, Somik, Sharpe, Ruzicka, Drozdetsky and others for the future at forward. Now if only we had a great goalie prospect, though we do look to have a bunch of solid goalie prospects in Nittymakki, Malek, Trembley, and others.
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