Penguins A to Z: Jan Drozg made strides in 2020-21 but remains a long-term project
With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Jan Drozg
Position: Left winger
Shoots: Right
Age: 21
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 175 pounds
2021-20 AHL statistics: 30 games, seven points (five goals, two assists)
2020-21 Alps Hockey League statistics: 10 games, 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists)
Contract: Second year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $809,166. Pending restricted free agent in 2022.
Acquired: Fifth-round draft pick (No. 152 overall), June 24, 2017
2020-21 season: Slovenia has produced nearly as many first ladies (Melania Trump) as it has NHLers (Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar and former Detroit Red Wings forward Jan Mursak).
So even if Slovenian-born Jan Drozg is hardly a lock to play in an NHL game any time soon, the fact that he was even drafted and is only one step below in the American Hockey League is something of a triumph.
And while his production with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton wasn’t impressive, he appeared to nail down something of a more regular role than he enjoyed during his first professional season of 2019-20 as he picked up the finer defensive aspects of the professional game on this continent.
With most leagues in North America on hiatus this past fall due to the pandemic, several NHL teams loaned a number of their prospects to Europe in the name of getting them some playing time. The Penguins did this with Drozg as they sent him to HK Olimpija Ljubljana, a Slovenian team based in the multi-country Alps Hockey League.
Despite having several games in October and November postponed due to covid-19 related concerns, Drozg was wildly productive in a league that is admittedly far from being one of the best in the world.
Drozg’s loan was terminated Dec. 22 and a month later, he attended the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s training camp.
Primarily deployed in a bottom-six role on the right wing, Drozg unofficially saw more ice time than he did as a first-year professional — ice time figures are not maintained in the AHL — and by most accounts, displayed a more defensively conscious game while only missing two games for covid-19 related protocols.
Offensively, Drozg did not record a point in his final 14 games of the season after collecting seven points in his first 16 games. His most productive game of the campaign came during a 4-2 home win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Feb. 26 when he scored the game-winning goal and added an assist.
The future: Drozg made some strides in 2020-21. But he still has a ways to go before he can be considered a legit threat to appear in an NHL contest.
Given his background, Drozg was always going to be a long-term project and he largely remains on schedule. A productive top-six winger at the junior level with Shawinigan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), he began to learn the nuances of being a bottom-six entity this past season.
If Drozg is to become the third Slovenian to play in the NHL, he needs to continue building on the lessons he learned in 2020-21.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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