Report: Jeff Zatkoff Likely To Miss 2015 AHL All-Star Classic

It looks like Jeff Zatkoff will remain out the rest of this weekend with an undisclosed injury and will miss the 2014-15 AHL All-Star Classic Jan. 25-26th.

While the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins snapped a season-high six-game losing skid with a 5-1 win over St. John's tonight, it wasn't all good news in the post-game press conference with head coach John Hynes.

Penguins beat writer Tom Venesky of the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre reported that Hynes said "Zatkoff is out until after the break", a likely indication he won't be playing in the 2015 AHL All-Star Classic in Utica, NY on Sunday and Monday nights. Hynes also added that Zatkoff is not expected to miss extended time with his undisclosed injury apparently suffered in Tuesday's practice, per Venesky.

Replacement options in net and a former Penguin I recently caught up with added as an AHL All-Star after the jump.

Replacement options for the Eastern Conference in net include Manchester's Jean-Francois Berube, Syracuse's Andrei Vasilevskiy, Worcester's Troy Grosenick and Norfolk's John Gibson. (EDIT: Berube was named as a replacement for the Eastern Conference All-Stars Thursday morning.)

Other Penguins AHL All-Star representatives Tom Kostopoulos and Derrick Pouliot were named to the starting lineup for Monday's All-Star game by the league after a fan-vote concluded. Also in that AHL press release are some late additions to the roster, including former Penguins forward Paul Thompson (now with the Albany Devils).

Thompson tallied two goals in the Devils' 5-3 win over Bridgeport Wednesday night and leads the Devils this season with 21 goals now in 39 games this season. It's quite a turn around for Thompson, who if you recall ended his WBS tenure with four goals in 39 games before being traded to Springfield for Spencer Machacek midway through last season.

Thompson has revived his career in the Devils organization, and I was fortunate enough to catch up with him after last Friday's 3-2 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to talk about his resurgence. Check back here tomorrow for a Throwback Thursday feature on ex-Penguins forward Paul Thompson.