Laraque is sidelined for five games

The National Hockey League announced that Montreal Canadiens forward Georges Laraque has been suspended for five games without pay for an incident which happend during a game against the Detroit Red Wings last Saturday.
Laraque was involved in an incident at the first period, where he deliberately extended his knee and caused an injury to Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall. Laraque was assessed a minor penalty.

"Mr. Laraque's actions were dangerous and caused a significant injury to his opponent," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. Laraque will miss next five games. Well he has to take off his canadiens jersey for a while.

Williams was hired as Majors scout

The Pirates have hired Steve Williams to serve as a Major League scout for the team."Steve brings a wealth of baseball experience to the Pittsburgh Pirates," general manager Neal Huntington said in a release that announced the hiring. "We are pleased to add someone of his background, experience and abilities to an already talented group of individuals on the professional scouting staff."

Williams recently worked as an assistant director of scouting for the Royals. Before that, he spent nearly seven seasons serving as a regional scouting supervisor with the Tigers. Williams also spent 12 years working as an area scout for both Minnesota and Toronto. In addition, he has held the position of president of the Buck O'Neil Scouting and Coaches Association in the past six years.

Royals sign Brad Thompson

The Royals of Major League have agreed to a Minor League contract with former Cardinals right-hander Brad Thompson. Last season Thompson played in 32 games including eight starts for the Cardinals. He is expected to be invited to the Major League Spring Training camp.

In five years with the Cardinals, Thompson has played in 185 games in his cardinals jersey. He posted his best numbers as a rookie in 2005. Thompson has postseason experience including two-thirds of a scoreless inning in the 2006 World Series against Detroit Tigers. He appeared in the both National League Division Series and League Championship Series in 2005 and 2006.

Sabres General Manager will appear on NHL Hour

According to the report, Buffalo Sabres general manager Darcy Regier will be the guest on Thursday's NHL Hour With Commissioner Gary Bettman on Sirius XM Radio at about 3 p.m. ET. Regier became general manager of the Sabres in 1997 and he is the longest-serving general manager in franchise history.

The show encourages hockey fans to call in with questions for the Commissioner. NHL Hour with Commissioner Gary Bettman now broadcasts live on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET on NHL Home Ice and on Sirius Channel 208 and NHL.com.

Blue Jackets sent Filatov to KHL

General Manager Scott Howson of the Columbus Blue Jackets announced on November 17.that the tema have sent forward Nikita Filatov to CSKA of the Kontinental Hockey League for the rest of the 2009-10 season. Filatov has appeared in 13 games with the Blue Jackets this season, scoring two goals and adding eight penalty minutes. He has got eight penalty minutes in 21 NHL games over the past two seasons.

"Nikita is a top prospect in our organization and we believe it is in the best interest of his development to play more and in all situations in the KHL," said Howson. "We have agreed to his request to be assigned to CSKA and this should afford him the opportunity to continue to work and develop his game in his hometown of Moscow." Fans will not see him playing in columbus blue jackets jersey for a while.

Brookls Orpik is sidelined for two weeks

It is announced on Thursday that Penguins' defenseman Brooks Orpik will be out of the lineup for the next two weeks because of a lower-body injury. "He's got a two-week injury, lower body," head coach Dan Bylsma said. "We were excited that he was doing better than we feared. He's doing well. We got some good news and he'll hopefully be around 14 days." Orpik left the game on Tuesday night in Boston in the first period after falling into the boards and did not come back to the game. Now the Penguins have lost a player in each of their past three games, and four in the last two weeks.

Forward Tyler Kennedy left after team warm-ups at Los Angeles on Nov. 5 and has been out ever since. Then the team lost defenseman Kris Letang after he suffered a shoulder pain on Nov. 7 at San Jose. And only three days later, the team is marching without Orpik. It is regrettable for fans not to see them playing on the ice in the penguins jerseys.

Red Wings' General Manager and Capitals Knuble will be on NHL Live!

Today's NHL Live! show includes four-time Stanley Cup winning general manager Ken Holland of the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals right wing Mike Knuble, who has 5 goals and 10 assists in 18 games this season. Holland will talk to hosts E.J. Hradek and Deb Placey about the NHL General Managers Meeting in Toronto and the recent play of his Red Wings team. Knuble, whose team beat the Islanders in an 11-round shootout, will be happy to discuss his No. 6 ranking in the League in his capitals jersey.

The show will be on air from 1 to 2 p.m.