Penguins A to Z: Jan Drozg's future will unfold elsewhere
With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Jan Drozg
Position: Left winger
Shoots: Right
Age: 23
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 175 pounds
2021-22 AHL statistics: 38 games, 11 points (four goals, seven assists)
Contract: Final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $809,166. Pending restricted free agent this upcoming offseason.
Acquired: Fifth-round draft pick (No. 152 overall), June 24, 2017
Last season: The road from Slovenia to the NHL isn’t well-traveled.
Especially since only two players have reached the terminus.
Los Angeles Kings star forward Anze Kopitar and former Red Wings reserve forward Jan Mursak are the only ones to complete the route.
Jan Drozg’s dream is to become the third member of that limited fraternity.
Based on how his 2021-22 campaign unfolded, if that dream is to be realized, it won’t be with the Penguins.
After an uneventful training camp, Drozg was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fairly early into training camp (Sept. 28).
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins opened their season with a 2-1 home win against the rival Lehigh Valley Phantoms which saw Drozg primarily man the right wing of the fourth line.
One night later, Drozg was scratched in a 4-1 home loss to the Charlotte Checkers in favor of forward Felix Robert (who was signed to an AHL contract).
Drozg’s season more or less progressed in that fashion as he was in and out of the lineup on a regular basis and was usually deployed in a bottom-six role.
After getting caught up in the wave of covid-19 outbreaks that struck Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s roster in early December, Drozg’s first goal of the season did not come until Dec. 29 in a 6-1 road loss to the rival Hershey Bears.
Drozg enjoyed a handful of games on the second line in January but was once again in and out of the lineup quite a bit into early March.
After 23 games and 10 points (four goals, six assists) with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Drozg was loaned to the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Detroit Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate. In an interview with an outlet in his native Slovenia, Drozg revealed he had requested the transaction citing “a need for a fresh start, a new opportunity.”
Whatever opportunity Drozg received with Grand Rapids, it manifested itself into a single assist over 15 games with a Griffins team that did not qualify for the postseason.
The future: The only thing clear about Drozg’s future is that it won’t involve the Penguins. Both parties were eager to end the marriage before his contract had even expired.
As Drozg mentioned in his interview with the Slovenian outlet, the Penguins have new management in place, and he was a product of the regime under former general manager Jim Rutherford. That means Drozg is highly unlikely to receive a qualifying offer this offseason and will be allowed to become an unrestricted free agent.
If he still has a future as an NHLer, that’s going to take a lot of work on his behalf and some luck probably.
Drozg has the base elements — namely speed — to be a bottom-six NHLer. But the results just were never there on a consistent basis during his time with the Penguins.
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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