NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition): Peter Chiarelli deserves an extension, Naslund versus the Canucks and Sundin may return by mid-December

Here are the morning papers for Wednesday the 19th of November:

• The Kings have promoted Patrick O’Sullivan to the top line alongside Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.
• With the Capitals at Anaheim tonight, Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register writes about Alexander Ovechkin’s passion for the game.
• Guy Carbonneau was not happy with the Habs’ collective work ethic last night, writes Pat Hickey.
• Thrashers coach John Anderson does not think Ilya Kovalchuk is ready to be captain just yet, writes Mike Knobler.
• Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau wants his team to cut down on its shots allowed.
• The Lightning came back from a 3-0 deficit, fired over 50 shots on net and still lost in a shootout last night.  Steve Stamkos logged a season high 17+ minutes of ice-time last night.  Meanwhile, Barry Melrose admits that he and the Lightning owners argued over player ice-time. 
• With Andy McDonald now sidelined for around eight weeks, the Blues are going to put more pressure on Patrik Berglund to put up points.
• The Devils have a fairly easy three-game stretch ahead of them.
• Tim Jackman was arguably one of the best Islanders players in Monday’s game versus the Canucks.
• The Coyotes battled back from down 2-0 to register a shootout loss at home to Chicago last night.  Daniel Winnik did not suit up last night because of a bruised midsection.
• Jordin Tootoo understands that he has to continue to play a physical and feisty game, even if offensive expectations have risen for him.
• It looks like Mats Sundin is shooting for a mid-December return to the NHL.  The Leafs need Alex Steen to breakout of his season long slump.  Apparently nothing is “imminent” on the Burke to the Leafs front.
• “The best thing we can do is forget about this game,” said Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash after hist team’s 7-2 home loss to Edmonton.  If only the Blue Jackets could play entire games at even strength.  Meanwhile, Michael Arace takes a closer look at Jason Chimera’s game.
• Andrew Ference talks about the injury to his ankle.  Peter Chiarelli deserves a contract extension, writes Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald.
• The Blackhawks finally enjoyed some shootout success on Tuesday, leaving the desert with a 3-2 victory.
• The Senators are expecting to be without Mike Fisher and Chris Neil for tomorrow night’s game versus the Habs.  Maybe the Sens are doubting themselves, but at least Wade Redden still believes in them.  In other news, Jarkko Ruutu is being a pest off the ice too.
• Cam Ward turned aside the Habs and the Canes got two third period goals to exit the Bell Centre with a 2-1 road victory.  Sure he played it down, but Sergei Samsonov had to be relieved that he finally scored his first goal of the season.
• The Oilers were actually badly outshot on Tuesday but the score sure indicated otherwise, writes Jim Matheson.  The Oilers are going to miss one of their leaders, Fernando Pisani, who will be out of the line-up for around two months because of an ankle injury.  Here are Dustin Penner’s comments on his benching.
• The Panthers did blow a 3-0 lead to Tampa Bay on Tuesday, but Peter DeBoer was just happy his team came back and won the shootout to get those important two points.  In injury news, Cory Stillman is having recurring concussion symptoms and is out of the line-up indefinitely.
• Stars captain Brenden Morrow knows he hasn’t been the greatest leader this year and understands the responsibility he has to change that, writes Mike Heika.
• Tim Connolly has an “upper-body” injury that is considered week-to-week by the Sabres medical staff.  For some reason Derek Roy has slumped badly this year.
• The Flames dominated last night’s contest against Colorado in every possible way, writes Jean Lefebvre.  Meantime, Matthew Lombardi is no Calgary Stampeders fan.  The Flames need to cut down on the penalties they are taking, writes Randy Sportak.
• The Wild, on the back of Niklas Backstrom, limited the high-flying Penguins to one goal last night in their 2-1 shootout victory.  Being bad for so long, allowed the Penguins to draft high for a number of years and that is sure paying off today, explains Michael Russo.
• Flyers rookie defenseman Luca Sbisa has a roomate who keeps a watchful eye on him, writes Sam Carchidi.  On the injury front, Daniel Briere appears doubtful for Friday’s game versus Buffalo.
• The Penguins didn’t lose last night’s game in the shootout, they lost it in regulation when they were unable to convert on their many scoring chances.  The Penguins medical staff is being cautious with Marc-Andre Fleury’s injury.  Apparently Ray Shero is open to a short-term contract extension for Jordan Staal.
• Aside from Peter Budaj, the Avalanche were just terrible in Calgary on Tuesday.  Adrian Dater of the Denver Post thinks it is one of the worst efforts he has ever seen from an Avalanche team.
• The Detroit News explains Darren McCarty being placed on waivers.
• Henrik Lundqvist knows he will have to be at his best tonight for his team’s defensive battle with Vancouver.  If the Rangers want to cut down on low scoring games, they need their Playstation line to revert to old form.  Tonight is obviously a very significant game for former Canuck captain Markus Naslund.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.