This is the Adam Laroche the Pirates expected

When the Pittsburgh Pirates traded for Adam Laroche last winter they believed they were getting a power hitting first baseman who could take them to the next level. That next level for the Pirates is 500 ball but three months later the Pirates are begining to see that player. LaRoche continued his hot streak today as he homered twice and Tom Gorzelanny outpitched Ben Sheets as the Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Thursday, handing the division leaders their third consecutive loss. LaRoche has jumped his average from .164 on May 12 to .242. The first baseman is 16-for-32 with five doubles, five homers and 11 RBIs in his last eight games. While Adam Laroche is begining to find

Colby Armstrong files for arbitration

Pittsburgh Penguins right winger Colby Armstrong has filed for arbitration. The Penguins and Armstrongs agent Craig Oyster had discussions told but were not able to finalize a two year deal. The two sides have agreed on the amount of years but Colby is seeking more than the Penguins are offering. The Penguins offer to Armstrong was a 2yr deal paying Armstrong 850k this season and 900 k next season. Erik Christensen and Max Talbot each signed two year deals. Jocelyn Thibault has signed a 1 yr deal with the Buffalo Sabres.

NHL Rumor Mill

Talks off to a good startContract talks between the Penguins and C Sidney Crosby’s agent are progressing nicely, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “They’re going in the right direction,” Pat Brisson, Crosby’s agent, told the Posst-Gazette. The amount of money per season isn’t the issue it’s the amount of year. 5-7 years has been the rumor of late Gerber a tough sell?Senators GM Bryan Murray has held talks with the Kings and Coyotes about trading G Martin Gerber but still hasn’t had any luck, according to the Ottawa Sun.The two years and $7.4M remaining on Gerber’s contract remain appears to be a deal killer. the Coyotes had been rumored to have asked the Senators to take defenseman Derek Morris and

Wednesday Morning Rumors: Boogaard to the Flyers?

The Devils are pushing hard to bring D Sheldon Souray back to New Jersey, according to the Newark Star-Ledger, and his signing could be imminent. The paper described the Devils as front-runners for the hard-shooting, unrestricted free agent blue-liner, who made $2.43M last season. Meanwhile, the New York Post said sources are “buzzing” that Souray might join the Rangers, although that seems unlikely because New York doesn’t have much room left under the salary cap. Glen Murray on the trading Block. The Boston Hearald is comfirming what i and many have been reporting for days. Murray is due 8.3 million over the next two years. Dallas morning news is reporting the Dallas Stars have a 3 yr – 12 million

Penguins made upgrades but still have holes to fill

The Penguins made two vital signings Monday morning that plugged two serious holes which became evident during the Ottawa series.They added a scoring winger in Petr Sykora and a veteran defenseman in Daryl Syor who brings stability and leadership to an average defensive corps. The more i look at the Petr Sykora signing, the more i like it. He could very well score 30 goals playing with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. I envision him playing with Malkin but thats up for debate when that time comes. He only scored three more goals than Michel Ouellet last season but Sykora overall game is a upgrade over Ouellet’s. I look at the Daryl Sydor signing as the Penguins trading Joe Melichar

Bucco Rumors

If there are any Pirate fans out there, here are some rumors swirling around the diamond. The Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Colorado Rockies have inquired about reliever Solomon Torres as of this afternoon. Jack Wilson is on the trading block but is not drawing much interest. The Cubs are believed to have offered right fielder Jacque Jones for Wilson but were turned down. It would have been a even money deal. The New York Post reports the Mets are interested in catcher Ronnie Paulino. Chris Duffy could draw some interest from a contender looking for bench help. The Pirates will get offers for Xaiver Nady but appear unwilling to trade him. Nady is having a career year. Tony Armas

Quick Hits

Updated: 7:50 Latest NHL Rumors Eklund of HockeyBuzz is reporting the Penguins are a possible suitor for Derek Morris. I can confirm no trade offer has been made to Phoenix for Derek Morris but the Penguins appear to be looking around for another defenseman at a reasonable price under 2 million per season via trade or free agency . This morning i received some insight that the Penguins are looking for another right handed defensive defenseman. Their goal is to go into the season with 8 NHL ready defenseman but all of this does not add up. Despite the fact they just resigned Scuderi and signed Sydor the speculation will not go away about the Penguins interested in picking up

Christensen and Orpik not going anywhere for now

Just talked to two good sources tonight who have said the Penguins are not looking to move Eric Christensen or Brooks Orpik. Any thing can change but coming into training camp Christensen is expected to have a spot on the top 2 lines as a winger. The team was very happy with the Whitney-Orpik tandem and although two teams inquired about him in the past week the Penguins were not close to trading him. What about the Regher to Pittsburgh rumors?The two sides exchanged two offers last week before the Flames decided they weren’t looking to move Regher. It’s believed the Flames were just seeing what they could get for Regher and there were to many obstacles for this trade

An Inside look at todays signings in the NHL

I like what the Kings and Capitals did today. The Capitals signing of Michael Nylander is a very good signing for them. In the first two days of free agency the Capitals improved their squad signing a #1 center, puckmoving defenseman in Tom Poti and Viktor Kozlov who scored 26 goals last season. The Capitals top 2 lines will look like this. 1st line Ovechkin – Nylander – Kozlov: 2nd line Semin – Backstrom – Clark. Ovechkin and Nylander will be perfect for each other. Nylander never shoots and Ovechkin never passes. The Capitals might compete for the #8 seed in the East. The LA Kings signed Tom Preissing to a 4yr – 11 million deal today. Preissing will provide

Latest Rumblings

Updated 10:30The Islanders are in desperate mode have offered contracts to Ladislav Nagy who signed in LA & Danius Zubrus. They appear to be out the Bill Guerin sweepstakes but who knows with free agency. He turned down a 2 yr 7 million deal i ve just been told. Eklund of HockeyBuzz.com has the Penguins as a possible landing spot for center Mike Peca. Been looking into this all day and have found out that the Penguins have touched based with Peca’s representatives but no formal offer has been made yet. A 2 year – 4 million offer could be on the way from the Penguins but Peca is seeking 3 million per season which is looking very unlikely. As