He appeared in 29 games for the Phantoms, recording six assists and 51 penalty minutes before being traded, along with some draft picks, to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Mike Comrie on December 16, 2003.
Woywitka finished 2003-04 with the Oilers’ AHL affiliate, putting up 22 points (4 goals, 18 assists) in 53 games for the Road Runners.
This season, Jeff looked strong coming out of training camp and there was speculation that he could have stuck in the NHL if not for the lockout.
However, back in the AHL for 2004-05, Woywitka struggled somewhat in the first half of his sophomore season. His offense has finally started to come around recently, and he now ranks second among Edmonton defensemen with 11 points.
“He has great size and skills for a player of his age,” said one source. “Sometimes it is easy to forget that he is only 21 years old.”
While some growing pains are expected, Woywitka needs to improve his consistency in the second half of the season before the Oilers will give him any serious consideration for a full time NHL gig.
Still we think that he's improved his stock as an AHL player against the overall field. He moves up 7 spots to round off the top twenty five players in the MLN FAB50 Hockey 2005.
