NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition): Brian Burke deal almost complete, Erik Cole needs to step it up and the Stars are pressing

Here are the morning papers for Wednesday the 26th of November:

• Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register tells readers that Brian Burke to Toronto is almost a done deal.
• After reading these quotes, it becomes obvious that Ilya Kovalchuk and Ian White don’t like each other.  The Thrashers played ten times better than they did on Saturday night versus Columbus, in the team’s 6-3 win over the Leafs at the ACC.
• Claude Julien knows the pressures that come with being the number one team in the Eastern Conference.  Reading Marc Savard’s take on defensive hockey, you wouldn’t know it was the same person who played for the Thrashers a few years back.
• Lindy Ruff gave his team Tuesday off, in order to have them refreshed and ready to go when they face the Bruins on Wednesday.
• Mike Keenan’s new lines worked wonders yesterday, as the Flames defeated the Kings 6-2 at the Saddledome.  WIth the city’s sports spotlight shining on them (the CFL Stampeders won the Grey Cup and their season is over), the Flames were really dominant on Tuesday.
• Justin Williams’s return could be the key to turning the Hurricanes’ season around, writes Luke Decock.  The Canes need more forwards to play with the consistency of Tuomo Ruutu, explains Chip Alexander.
• The Avalanche has to start hitting more as a team.  As if the team didn’t have enough injuries, winger Darcy Tucker is now out of the Colorado line-up for a month with a knee injury.
• Derick Brassard and Danny Gare intend on continuing their teacher-pupil sessions in Columbus.  Is Steve Mason close to being told to stay put with the big club?  Here are the Jackets’ projected lines for tonight’s contest.
• Mike Heika has a good article about the Stars and their wanting to do too much to make up for their slow start.
• Johan Franzen didn’t score on the Red Wings’ trip to Western Canada so something must be wrong, right?
• It is not surprising that Mathieu Garon isn’t exactly the most confident player in the Oilers locker room right now.  Maybe a five-day break with no games will have the Oilers refreshed tonight.  Meanwhile, Jim Matheson says it is time for Erik Cole to step up his game and produce better offensive numbers.
• Panthers winger Richard Zednik is going to be out of the line-up for weeks with an elbow injury.
• After his gaffe on Monday night, the Habs are rallying around teammate Ryan O’Byrne.  Josh Gorges hopes to continue his “goal-scoring ways” tonight versus the Red Wings.
• Jacques Lemaire doesn’t want to hear about any kind of advantage he has over visiting teams who come to town with lots of injuries.  Meanwhile, Brian Stensaas of the Star Tribune gives readers an update on how former Wild winger Mark Parrish is fitting in with the Dallas roster.
• The Predators were completely shut down by their former teammate Chris Mason last night, as the Blues came to town and posted a 1-0 road victory.  Youngster Antti Pihlstrom made his Predators debut last night.
• Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta appear rejuvenated on the ice and the two have really been the keys to the Devils’ great play as a of late.
• The Islanders have been playing very well as of late, and much of that recent success can be attributed to the team’s strong work ethic.
• The Rangers hope that their Thanksgiving road trip to Florida has better results than the past couple seasons, writes Steve Zipay.  Scott Gomez’s return to the line-up means as much off the ice as it does on.  Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky is not a fighter, but he is not afraid to drop the gloves either.
• Senators defenseman Alex Picard has played a lot better since his one-on-one meeting with coach Craig Hartsburg.  In other news, Reebok really likes Jason Spezza and vice-versa.
• The Flyers penalty kill has been terrific as of late.  The Flyers are hoping to have Ryan Parent and Randy Jones back in their line-up sometime in December.  Give Flyers owner Ed Snider a ton of credit for saving some Philadelphia hockey rinks.
• The Coyotes acquired Wyatt Smith from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
• Dany Sabourin is having a terrific season and hopes to continue his strong play tonight versus the Islanders.  Here’s some information about the Islanders heading into tonight’s contest.
• With the NHL’s new injury policy, you aren’t going to hear many specifics about what ails certain players, writes Mark Emmons.
• Rick Tocchet wants his Lightning players to go to the net and, starting tonight, he will be keeping track of how many of them actually do.  In other Lightning news, Mike Sullivan has rejoined the team’s coaching staff as an associate coach.
• Damien Cox tells Leafs fans they are in for quite the duo when Brian Burke makes it official and joins old friend Ron Wilson in Toronto.  Burke’s foundation is his work ethic, just ask Lou Lamoriello.  Oh yeah, there is still a team on the ice in Toronto and current GM Cliff Fletcher is still talking about how happy he is the team acquired Lee Stempniak.  The Leafs also lost to Atlanta last night but we aren’t sure if anybody actually noticed.
• Cory Schneider has sure matured since first appearing at Canucks training camp.  Mature or not, the Canucks intend on playing Curtis Sanford right now as he has been terrific his past few starts.
• If you haven’t noticed, Tomas Fleischmann has been playing really well for an injury-ridden Capitals squad.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.