The highly coveted Lille playmaker professes his admiration for Arsenal, citing "beautiful football", the French connection, and his cousin Tommy.

Reported by Rosenthal and Morosi, with Bill Ladson tweeting the Nats are looking for a position player in return. Lannan was recently awarded $5M in arbitration and will be under team control in 2013 as well.

It wouldn't be a sexy acquisition by any means, but Lannan's profile/stats/salary are quite comparable to Paul Maholm. Considering most seem to agree the Bucs could use another starter, with some lamenting the loss of Maholm, tell me... yay or nay on Lannan? If yes, who do you offer in exchange?

YouTube clip of a TSN spot about a "fan incident" that occurred while Sullivan played with Chicago several years ago.

Now this would knock some socks off:

"Rosenthal and Morosi kick around the idea of a Reds package starting with Homer Bailey, Mike Leake, or Travis Wood, but I think that could be beat if teams like the Yankees, Cardinals, Tigers, Phillies, or Pirates come calling."

Not sure how many gamers we have here, but I suspect at least a few will be interested in this first preview of MLB The Show 2011. It covers several improvements to the series, notably the addition of analog controls for hitting, pitching, and fielding; new online features including co-op play; and RTTS improvements.

You can also view the first trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/MrOperationSports#p/u/0/FTAF581qSm4

PS - Charlie, if you don't want this here I understand. Just thought I'd share the info for those that don't frequent gaming sites but might be interested.

With Marco Sturm and Marc Savard on the mend, Boston will need to find cap room to accommodate their salaries (currently LTI exempt). Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler are mooted as two candidates to be moved. Ryder's $4M hit and Boston's inability to take dollars back limits his trade appeal to only a few teams, but Wheeler's $2.2M (RFA after this season) and youth/potential might make him an attractive commodity.

I'm bullish on Wheeler, who, after a very solid rookie season with quality linemates, took a step back last year. He's a winger with size, skill, upside, and a fairly reasonable price tag. Too bad the Penguins' cap situation and Wheeler's upcoming RFA status make this post more or less a pointless waste of bandwidth... or something like that.

Link to a Puck Daddy piece discussing the decision to cut ties with Guerin and speculation -- based on quotes from Svatos' agent -- regarding the former Avalanche winger possibly joining the Pens. Not sure if I'd even want Svatos due to his recent struggles with injury & inconsistency... but if he'll play for peanuts, I suppose I could live with it.

PS - It took every ounce of restraint to not call him an "enigmatic" winger.

The link takes you to the Xbox Live page for the NHL11 demo. If you're signed in, you can queue a download from the web. The PS3 demo should be up this afternoon/evening when the PSN Store updates.

Anyone play it yet? Impressions? I got a quick game in before work this morning and will be giving it several hours of my time tonight. So far, so good...

Just a heads up for the hockey gamers of Pensburgh... NHL11 will include Hockey Ultimate Team, an expansive game mode for both online & offline play. Build your dream team by acquiring player cards and managing your roster, lines, contracts, and player development in monthly seasons & playoffs.

I didn't spend too much time with this mode at the NHL11 Community Event in May, but several of the other reps did and came away quite impressed with the depth and replay value.