The Penguins are traveling to Vancouver this afternoon once they finish up a morning practice. First roadie of the year right off the bat. The season's so close you can almost taste it. But first, a few links to pass the time-
The Penguins and Capitals don't team up much, if ever, but here's one worthy exception. The two teams will be pitching in to sell their jerseys from Oct. 13th's game to benefit the Lokomotiv plane crash. Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin will be dropping a first pick together at the game. And wives/girlfriends of the players will be selling memorial bracelets at each team's respective home opener. [Penguins.com]
Sidney Crosby retains his ranking as #1 player in the league by a "special panel of hockey experts"…We don't know where Malkin is yet, but he didn't make the Top 10. [TSN]
Our friends at Faceoff Factor have a snazzy new layout to go along with their great information. Do yourself a favor and check it out. [FF]
This is 2 days old (which makes it like 20 years old in internet terms) but it's good enough to mention. If you haven't checked out Rossi's piece from Sunday about Evgeni Malkin, do it now. [Tribune Review]
Joe Vitale is an NHL player now. [Trib]
Brooks Orpik is practicing today (Tuesday). Other than Orpik, the Pens only have six defensemen and with them heading west expect Orpik to be pretty close to game shape. [PG+ $]
Down Goes Brown previews the Eastern Conference [DGB]