Kansas City preseason game reminds of Penguins’ perilous past

by Matt Gajtka

Tuesday’s Penguins preseason tilt against the Los Angeles Kings at the still tenant-less Sprint Center in Kansas City would be the very definition of a non-event under typical circumstances.

The game certainly matters for the coaches and (some of the) players involved, but even the folks in attendance will likely be more disappointed about Sidney Crosby’s ongoing concussion recovery and Drew Doughty’s holdout than excited for big-league hockey in their town.

Aside from this exhibition malaise, though, anyone who’s been following the Penguins for more than four years knows the

negative connotation brought on by any mention of the Midwest’s barbecue capital.

It was during the 2006-07 season when rumors about the Penguins’ potential relocation to western Missouri reached their crescendo. I know I wasn’t the only one who heard one permutation or another of “Kansas City Crosby” during that winter when Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle were supposedly shopping the franchise around the country.

But regardless of how much pulled pork the Penguins’ brass dined on, their flirtations with cities searching for an NHL presence turned out to be nothing more than very effective leverage in negotiations that eventually led to CONSOL Energy Center.

And so the Penguins got their new arena, which opened to nearly universal fanfare a year ago, while the team has strung together five straight playoff appearances, two Eastern Conference titles and a Stanley Cup championship since its “close call” with KC.

We can all look back and laugh about the absurdity of one of the NHL’s current premier franchises leaving its hockey-mad community for the Great Plains, but in early 2007 the fear was real.

That’s why the Penguins skating in Kansas City is more grim reminder than interesting novelty for at least one fan.

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