Kings in K.C., and other notes

The freshest news, as reported today in the Sports Business Journal, is that the Kings will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Kansas City in a Sept. 27 preseason game. The Kings have been fairly regular preseason visitors to Kansas City’s Spring Center, which is operated by AEG. The preseason schedule has not yet been released, but it should be very interesting. In addition to the Sept. 27 game, the Kings are scheduled to play their annual game in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, then fly to Europe. Of course, preseason games are usually split-squad affairs, but still, that’s quite a bit of travel. Speaking of Europe, you can click at the bottom of this post to see/hear Dean Lombardi’s thoughts on opening next season in Germany and Sweden.

Second, Kings defensive prospects Derek Forbort and Kevin Gravel are among the 40 players who have been selected to participate in an evaluation camp by USA Hockey. Players at the camp, to be held in August in New York, will essentially be auditioning for a spot on the United States’ World Juniors team, for the tournament that will be played in late December-early January in Calgary and Edmonton. Forbort was a first-round pick of the Kings last year and Gravel was a fifth-round pick. Both defensemen recently completed their freshman seasons of NCAA hockey, Forbort at North Dakota and Gravel at St. Cloud State.

Here’s a couple links, for those looking to pass some time at work with some reading… First, the latest “My Story,” with Kings captain Dustin Brown, can be found by clicking here. Also, Scott Cullen of TSN.ca did a strong job looking at the Kings’ “off-season game plan,” as part of his team-by-team series, and that can be found by clicking here.