Bucco rumors & more

Jason Schmidt to the Pirates? Not a chance. Lets gets one thing straight: The Pirates have absolutely Zero chance of landing Schmidt. The Pirates are expected to make a run at him but the Buzzontheburgh has learned Schimdt has no intentions of ever returning to Pittsburgh. The Pirates have a better chance of signing Barry Bonds than Schimidt. Teams interested – Mariners, Padres, Yankees, Dodgers, Mets, Pirates? Former Pirate third baseman Aramis Ramirez has filed for free agency and will be baseball’s hottest commodity. The Cubs have exclusive rights with Ramirez until free agency beings on November 11th. Houston, Philadelphia and Detroit also might show interest, along with the Angels and Dodgers. The Buzzontheburgh has learned the Pirates are going

NHL Rumor roundup

While rumors surfaced about Peter Forsberg last week, there were more reports over the weekend involving Flyers players and trade rumors. According to a report in the Chicago Daily Herald, new Flyers GM Paul Holmgren is looking to make a big trade and Simon Gagne’s name could be part of such a deal. The Buzzontheburgh has learned the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche are two teams involved in talks with the Flyers right now. Latest Bruins rumorsWe reported last week the Bruins are shopping for goaltending and they have turned their attention to San Jose. A few reports out of Canada had the Bruins shopping for Evgeni Nabokov, his $5.375 annual salary is too hefty for Boston. The only

5 things wrong with the Steelers

1. Discipline: When has anyone seen a Super Bowl team filled with veterans make rookie mistakes over and over. The Steelers have made a habit of making costly penalties, mental errors, and coming into the games flat and unprepared. The blame for the penalties and mental errors is on the players but coming into games unprepared is solely on Bill Cowhers shoulders. 2. Offensive Line: Let’s get one fact out there. This is a old O-Line that needs some serious personnel moves. Jeff Hartings is finished and the management should have seen it coming. Hartings was contemplating retirement after the 03 season because of his bad knees, so the Steelers should not be surprised he is on the downhill of

Penguins Crush Flyers 8-2

Are the Penguins starting to get the attention of the National Hockey League that they are a team to be reckon with? I would say so.The young guns were at it again as Sidney Crosby had his best game of the season netting his first NHL hat trick in front of 19,589 at Wachovia Center. The Penguins came out of the gate a bit flat as Philadelphia grabbed an early 1-0 lead on a Mike Knuble goal that beat goalie Marc Andre Fleury short side. The Penguins responded with a vengeance with the game’s next 6 goals and never looked back. Sindey Crosby was all over the ice and his sidekick Evgeni Malkin scored once again and now has a

Petr Forsberg on his way out ?

The Flyers are struggling and the rumors are swirling whether Petr Forsberg wants to stick around. Peter Forsberg was brought to Philadelphia under Bobby Clarke’s watch. Now that the GM has resigned from the Flyers’ post, what does that mean for Forsberg? According to local reports out of Philly, both sides are staying noncommittal when asked about the forward’s future. “We’ll see how the foot feels,” Forsberg was quoted as saying in the Courier Post when asked if the new team of interim GM Paul Holmgren and coach John Stevens would affect his desire to stay with the Flyers. “When Clarkie resigned he’s a great man and a classy guy,” Forsberg said. “I feel bad he’s leaving in this situation.

Staal receives praise from Recchi

The decision on Jordan Staal will come no later than Monday morning and Mark Recchi is pulling for the 18 yr old rookie to stay. “I have a hard time believing it’s even a question, the 38-year-old Recchi said. “I’m not the GM and I don’t know about the business side. But I do know he makes our hockey team better.” Shero will get what he wants by sending Letang down, but he’s not going to get what he wants on the Staal decision. If Ray Shero had his way Staal would be sent down in a heartbeat but like we stated before, Michel Therrien is getting what he wants and will again when the decision on Staal is announced.

News on Jocelyn Thibault

The Buzzontheburgh has learned the Columbus Blue Jackets and Boston Bruins have contacted the Penguins about Jocelyn Thibault. We are still trying to gather some info but from what were hearing the Malone-Christensen for Brad Boyes is being discussed again with Thibault and Tim Thomas switching venues. We also reported the Penguins checked on the availability of Glen Murray last week but it is believed the Penguins have now backed off and Shero is going hard after Boyes A few days ago we broke some news on Rob Scuderi. We have now learned that Shero told the St.Louis Blues he is not looking to trade Scuderi at this time. St.Louis up against the cap contacted the Penguins this week about

Teams interested in Ryan Malone

Penguins left winger Ryan Malone is sidelined for 6 weeks but that hasn’t stopped teams from calling about his availability. The Buzzontheburgh has learned that atleast 4-6 teams have been interested in Malone since the summer. Shero is not trying to move Malone but is willing to use him of as a bargaining chip for the “right deal”. We reported last week that in the early goings of free agency a trade was in the works where Malone – Christensen to Boston for Brad Boyes but Boston eventually declined. Despite his sluggish start executives around the league fell Malone has the potential to be a 30-35 goal scorer in the right situation. From what we have learned there are no

A Look Inside Major League Baseball’s New Deal

An Insider analysis of the New Collective Bargaining Agreement Major League’s Baseball’s new collective bargaining is signed and sealed but it does not help the Pirates one bit. Well unless a miracle happens and the current ownership sells to a group willing to spend. The first case of business is the Luxury Tax which will climb a astounding 9 percent to 148 million and by the year 2011 it will top out at 178 million. All this does is drive the players prices up dramatically and if you want to spend the money you have more leeway without hitting into the tax penalty of 148 million. Young players will be almost untouchable. There is going to be a whole lot

Has Jocelyn Thibault requested a Trade?

The Buzzontheburgh has learned that Jocelyn Thibault is furious by his lack of playing time and his agent has received permission from Ray Shero to see if there are any suitors out there for his client. Jocelyn was told by Shero during training camp that if he had outplayed Marc Andre Fleury in training camp, Thibault not Fleury would be the starter opening night. Well we have seen how that has played out and Thibault feels betrayed by the lack of opportunity from Michel Therrien and wants out of Pittsburgh. The problem with a backup like Thibault is he still thinks he’s a #1 goalie when he’s not. Right now there are obviously no suitors for Thibault but the Buzzontheburgh