During Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's training camp, I asked second-year right wing Jan Drozg what part of his game he thinks he needs to focus on the most this season in order to take his game to the next level.
"I need to manage my turnovers," he said. "I think that's the big issue right now, but I work on that every day. That's part of the game. I know they're still happening, but I need to try to do my best and work on some little details."
Drozg, 21, was the Penguins' fifth-round pick in 2017 and played his first full professional season last year. He split the year between the ECHL and AHL, scoring 13 goals and 10 assists in 24 games with Wheeling, and five goals and three assists in 32 games with Wilkes-Barre.
Especially at the AHL level, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound native of Slovenia would at times have issues with limiting those turnovers in his rookie season. The transition from the junior ranks to the professional game was a difficult one, and part of the transition was learning that he couldn't quite play the same flashy style he was used to and get away with it with the same level of ease at this level.
"The best thing that I learned is that I can't lose the puck at the blue line," Drozg told me over the summer about his rookie season. "That was kind of my style in juniors, to try to dangle everyone and score. In pro hockey, that's a little harder."
"Sometimes it's better just to chip the puck then to try to dangle everyone," he said during camp.
Another area of Drozg's game that was a weakness in his rookie season was his compete level, as then-head coach Mike Vellucci told me after last season ended.
"He has all the talent, he just needs to learn how to play the game the right way and play every shift like it's his last shift. When he first got to Wilkes, his practice habits weren't good, he wasn't emptying the tank every shift, having turnovers."
Vellucci acknowledged that Drozg made strides in that area over the course of the season.
"When he came back up (from Wheeling), he was a different player," he said. "His practice habits were better. He learned to be a pro. They did a good job with him down there getting him ready. When he came back up here, he made the most of it, he did well. ... He played very hard, smart. It's just a different game for him. I was holding him accountable every shift, and he came a long way."
After Wilkes-Barre's preseason finale, I asked current head coach J.D. Forrest about what he's seen from Drozg so far this season, and he said that Drozg has elevated his compete level even more from last season.
"He's always been a really speedy, skilled player, somebody who is slippery and can be dangerous offensively," Forrest said after the preseason finale. "We're seeing that right now. But what we're also seeing is a little more compete from him, and some more confidence and willingness to get into some dirty areas. If he makes a mistake, to work to cover up for it. I think if he continues that, he'll be on the right path."
A lot of that confidence in Drozg's game just comes from being a second-year pro.
"I'm feeling stronger on the ice from last season," Drozg said. "A little bit faster. These two things help a lot in my game. And I get a little more used to the American Hockey League, the system that the team plays. ... The second year is always easier to play. When you're a rookie, everything is new. You need to get used to the new hockey, faster hockey and everything, new teammates. But in the second season here, it's kind of easier. You know the coaches, you know the guys, you know the way the team wants you to play. I think it's way easier."
Drozg missed the first game of the regular season while in COVID protocol, and since he was only in protocol for one practice and one game it's safe to say that he was in protocol for a reason other than testing positive. The day after Wilkes-Barre's opener, Forrest was asked what he was hoping to get from Drozg when he was inserted back into the lineup.
"He's got another skill, another dimension there that we don't have a ton of, which is his speed and his ability to handle the puck in tight spaces there and make some individual plays that not everybody can do," Forrest said.
He made his debut in Wilkes-Barre's second game, playing on the right side of the second line alongside Czech center Radim Zohona and second-year forward Justin Almeida on the left wing. He didn't pick up any points in his first game, but he showed some of that skill, confidence and compete in other ways like this play along the boards, which is exactly what Forrest was expecting to see from him:
"He has that offensive ability," Forrest said after Drozg's regular-season debut. "He started winning some of those battles and showing some of his skill in the offensive zone. I thought it was a good game for him, especially his first game in a long time in North America. I liked what I saw from Janny. We're just going to continue to build on that with him, a lot of that comes down to just believing in himself. It looks like this year, his confidence is in another spot. It's good to see."
It didn't take long for that ability to translate into a goal in the following game. Less than a minute into the first period of Wilkes-Barre's game against Syracuse, Drozg and Zohorna teamed up for a rush in which Drozg's speed was evident. Zohorna's initial backhand shot was stopped, and Drozg knocked in the rebound:
Through these two games, Drozg's compete level and rate of turnovers are like night and day compared to how he began the season last year. He's still not going to be a two-way, potential bottom-six forward like some of the other Penguins prospects who have earned a shot in the NHL in recent seasons. If he earns his shot in the NHL, it's going to come from being the speedy, skilled player the Penguins want him to be. He just needs to continue to be more reliable than he was last season.
"He's still offense-first, which is fine with me, because that's the type of player we want him to be," Forrest said. "We just don't want him to have defense as a total afterthought. I think now he understands that it's an important part of the game. It's come with maturity, it's come with playing some pro hockey. It's something that you do sometimes have to remind yourself that these things are important as well. Although I'm counted on as a skill guy, I can't let this slip by, I have to be reliable. I think he understands that. There's certain times, certain areas of the ice that you have to change your mindset a little bit. And so far, I like what I've seen from that standpoint with him as far as growth."
