Another goalie prospect

And Daniel Taylor is still the red headed step child of the Kings goalie prospects...

I'm paying attention to Jeff Zatkoff.
Every sports article at the college level state that he's the closest thing to a human wall.

DL's prodigy, Bernier, better be prepared for some nasty competition.

DL may be forced to trade one of these prospects for a hard-hitting, stay at home D-man.
Thoughts.

I was going to ask about Taylor too. Wasn't he doing well for the Monarchs as well?

If the Kings can develop their own goalie pipeline and have 2-3 NHL quality guys, then I could see trading one to bolster the defensive corps. The current goalie prospect pool is the Kings' deepest ever. Hopefully most or all of them reach their potential.

Hey Rich, I didn't mean it as a slight against you or anything but he just seems to be consistently left out of the loop of things. Which is a real head scratcher to me considering the way he's played this year.

Reaper...no sweat, I just always seem to forget about him.

To quote an LGKer with screenename TONYSCV, here's an interview idea for you Rich, that I agree with and would like to see someday:

Someday I'd love to hear an interview from one of DL's amateur scouts that details what all goes in to selecting a player. I'm sure it'd be really interesting. Far more analysis than any of us could ever do for sure.

I'd love to hear from someone who has worked for other GM's who can contrast the difference. Everything I've read would seem to indicate that DL's scouting staff must work their tails off to keep up with what DL expects to get in terms of feedback and analysis on players.

Thanks!

JAB

Bernier
Ersberg
Quick
Zatkoff
Taylor
Rowat

I've seen 4 of the 6 play and they have been impressive. I somtimes watch College Hockey on Fox Sports that's how I've seen Zatkoff play. This is becoming a deep pool of goalies. Like Bruce said if the Kings can develop 2-3 quality guys we may face a situation like Buffalo did a few years back when they had a goalie jam with Biron, Miller, and Noronen. BTW what happened to Noronen? Did he leave the NHL? I know he was basically f'ed when Vancouver got Luongo. He was a really good goalie and at 28 wouldn't be such a bad thing for the Kings to look into. Anyways I haven't been this excited since the Kings had Robb Stauber and Rick Knickle! (Note the sarcasim.)

For what it's worth...

www.hockeysfuture.com doesn't even put Rowat in the top 20 Kings prospects. They rate him out as a "6.0 D", which in their rating system means "backup goalie/unlikely to reach potential, could drop 3 ratings".

Specifically on Rowat they say:

Talent Analysis:
Plays a butterfly style in net. He also has excellent puck-handling skills and stays square to the shooter.

Future:
The WHL has historically been a deep league in goaltending talent and the Kings hope to develop this goaltender out of Regina. With a number of goaltender projects already in the system, the Kings can wait on his development.

They also put an article about Rowat out in December, '06:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/9257/2007_prospects_linden_rowat/

i love having six goalies when each has the possibility of panning out... it's a welcome change, and one i will definitely enjoy when our second- or third-best goalie becomes a big-time trade chip.

anthony: yep, it'll definitely happen. perhaps later rather than sooner, when we get a sense of who is NHL-capable.

Danny Taylor has the best W-L record & best save percentage of any goalie that's come through Manchester this year. Yet, he is consistently sitting at the end of the bench watching everyone else play.
To date, no one has offered any rational explanation.

The Kings historically suck at both developing & keeping decent goaltenders.