>The latest LA Kings Prospect Update has been posted on the club’s official web page and it profiles on man in particular…Jeff Zatkoff. As we know, Zats has been very impressive with Ontario of the ECHL thus far, and one would think he’d be in line for a call from Manchester sometime soon, but I digress.

From reading the update, it seems that Kings goaltending coach Bill Ranford seems to have a lot of faith in the Chesterfield, MI native. Take a look for yourself:

“I had a chance to see Zatkoff in his first [professional] game [on Oct. 18]. He is a young guy with a lot of energy and he is excited about his first year pro. I think he will bring that enthusiasm to the group of guys in Ontario. If everything goes according to plan, we will see him in Ontario for one or two years, but in a perfect world, hopefully next year he will be able to make the jump to the American Hockey League. Then after a few years in the AHL, make the push for one of the jobs in L.A.”

“Jeff does a really good job with rebound control with his stick, and up to this point, he has done a very good job in controlling pucks to his body. In today’s game most goals are scored are on little tiny rebounds in front and he has been doing a good job in taking those away. The biggest thing that he has got to work on is dealing with traffic and his foot speed, being quicker in the crease.”

Let’s hope that “JZ” doesn’t stick around in the ECHL for two years! If you’re interested in reading the rest of the Prospect Update (there is more on Zatkoff), click here.