NHL Preseason Game This Tuesday

*Card is subject to change

Come one, come all to the annual NHL Preseason game at the Sprint Center!

Who: Los Angeles Kings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Where: Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
When: 7:00pm, Tuesday, September 27th
What:  NHL hockey, of course.
Why: AEG controls the Sprint Center and owns the Kings, and the Penguins used the Sprint Center as leverage to get a new arena in Pittsburgh.
How is it significant: Uh...it's really not.  But, it's hockey, and that's cool, right?

Obviously, as anyone who follows the NHL already knows, exciting young defenseman Drew Doughty will not be at the game due to contract negotiation issues.  Also, exciting (young!) forward Sidney Crosby is just beginning to hit the ice hard in the preseason, so he will not get have a working vacation to the Paris of the Plains.  Jim Fox, Los Angeles's television color commentator, asked after the 2010 Olympics why Crosby doesn't just retire.  At the age of 24, he already claims a gold medal (which he clinched) and a Stanley Cup finals victory, along with various other rewards.  But, you will have to go elsewhere to see him, Kansas Citians.

You can check out the Kings previous exhibition lineups courtesy of Rich Hammond over at LA Kings Insider here and here.  Divine what you will from the information given.  The Kings play the Avalanche in Denver on Wednesday night, so they may bring a semi-legit lineup and play them again the next night, or they may not.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Meanwhile, the Penguins preseason lineups (here, here and here) all seem to have their fair share of NHLers.  Malkin has played, along with Staal and a few other notables.  It's important to note that all of their games have been at home, so they could mix and match how they wanted.  Again, there is nothing saying that the big names won't make the trip, but nothing saying they will either.  The Pens play again on Friday.

I will be attending the game and hopefully will have a write up and some photos for you on Wednesday.

Hopefully the updated rosters come out tomorrow.

Buy tickets here.

No Crosby At Sprint Center? Yeah, Probably...

If you have followed any of the Big XII/ Texas A&M/ SEC rumors, then you know rumors are just rumors.  Well, here is one from the NHL.  Via Puck Daddy via Josh Rimer (producer for XM NHL Home Ice apparently), Sidney Crosby may not be ready to go by the start of the season.  Which, also means he won't be able to go for the exhibition game at the Sprint Center against the Los Angeles Kings on September 27th.  Will this affect ticket sales?  Probably, as people like NHL21's Paul McGannon were banking on Crosby being there and Kansas Citians basking in his glory (this happened, but KC Star archives suck, so no link).  Penguins coach Dan Bylsma will have an update on Monday, but either way, it does not appear that Sid will be good to go for KC.  Maybe that's a cynical point of view, but let's look at history.  The past two exhibition games have featured no Anze Kopitar, no John Taveras, and I'm pretty sure Tkachuk or Kariya missed out.  So, no Crosby makes sense, but now he may have a more severe excuse.