Tonight is the final home preseason game for the Pittsburgh Penguins on account of the Columbus game which was moved up to avoid the lunacy that is about to descend upon the city with the protesters and the G-20. Yes, this one I am going to since my wife and her mother went to the Columbus game while I watched Charlotte.

Now that the field has been weeded out a little bit we will get to see Malkin and some of the other starters as well as a few of the higher skilled prospects and camp attendees. Mr. Hockeyburgh 2009, Misssssster Kennedyyyyyyyy, will also be in the lineup along with Caputi who is trying to make the club out of camp.

This will be my first live scouting mission this season as, on account of work, I have not been able to make any of the open practices. I am sure that I will have some things to sat afterwards.

In other news, I’ve been looking regularly at the pictures of the construction on the new arena. Looking pretty good. I’ll have my thoughts about that up this weekend.

Well, let’s look at what is going on with the Penguins today shall we? Philippe Boucher is out indefinitely after having foot surgery … he’s done for the season.

Fedotenko appears ready to go after recovering from a broken hand.

Gonchar is on the road trip with the Penguins and a decision on his availability will be made after the morning skate tomorrow. He has been cleared by team doctors and if he does play, the question will be how much.

Luca Caputi has been sent back to Scranton-Wilkes Barre despite his grit and hard play. Apparently the Penguins feel that with Fedotenko coming back Caputi was the odd man out behind Minard and, dare I say it, Satan? Ok, so Satan isn’t going to be demoted. I doubt his contract would even allow it. But I think Caputi was playing stronger than Minard.

We’ll see what happens on Valentine’s Day when the Penguins try to show some love to the Toronto Maple Leafs.