NHL Morning Papers (Monday Edition): Claude Lemieux signed to a two-way deal by Sharks, Rangers veterans may see some press box time and Paul Stastny looks to be out 6-8 weeks

Here are the morning papers for Monday the 29th of December:

• Ducks coach Randy Carlyle thinks that Cam Janssen’s antics caused Anaheim to get emotionally involved in last night’s game and as a result they came away with a 4-3 victory.
• The Thrashers matched the Bruins for almost the entire game on Sunday but one lapse and Atlanta ended up on the losing end.
• Manny Fernandez was terrific against the Thrashers, as the Bruins extended their win streak to eight games.  Chuck Kobasew is starting to get back into the groove in Boston.  Michael Ryder is earning his money this year, writes Steve Conroy.
• The future is now for three of the Sabres’ top prospects, writes John Vogl.
• Curtis Glencross is falling behind in the goal-scoring race between him and his buddy Rene Bourque.
• The Blackhawks set a franchise record on Sunday with the team’s ninth straight victory.
• Paul Stastny will undergo surgery on his broken forearm tomorrow, but the Avs center is expected to be out of the lineup for 6-8 weeks.  Tony Granato could have chosen other players to center his top line, but he has chosen to start with Tyler Arnason.
• The Blue Jackets begin the team’s longest and maybe most important road trip of the season tonight in Los Angeles.
• The Red Wings have been pretty poor on the penalty kill all season long and coach Mike Babcock wants that to change immediately.
• The Oilers were led by some of the team’s struggling players, Erik Cole and Sam Gagner, last night and came away with a 5-2 victory over the Predators.  Here is Jim Matheson’s Hockey World from yesterday.
• Coming off two straight losses to the Lightning, the Panthers need to get a win tonight before embarking on a four-game road trip.  Craig Anderson will get the start tonight for the Cats.
• The Habs are back to having a number one line that scares opponents when it comes onto the ice, writes Pat Hickey.  Dave Stubbs has an interesting article about the vote to put an end to power plays after the team with the man-advantage scores.
• Last night at home, the Wild allowed the opposing team to score the first goal for the tenth consecutive game and not surprisingly, the Wild came out on the losing end.  Benoit Pouliot still can’t get going for the Wild.
• The Predators received poor goaltending and made some bad turnovers and it cost them in Edmonton last night.  Barry Trotz recently told Jason Arnott that he can’t let his offensive struggles affect his role as captain.
• Did Brendan Witt’s comments change the way the Islanders play defense?
• If the Rangers keep playing the way they have been, then coach Tom Renney is going to start benching some of his veterans.  Larry Brooks says Renney has to start benching some of these veteran players.
• Bryan Murray can’t seem to make a trade for a defenseman, but it isn’t for a lack of trying.  At least last night’s game was on the West Coast so less Senators fans than usual had to watch the team get dominated by Vancouver.
• Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Daily News wants fans in the Eastern Conference to take note of how good the Blackhawks are.  The Flyers want to figure out their road struggles immediately.
• The Penguins know just how good the Bruins have been this season.  “The last two games we didn’t show up at all,” said Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury.
• In interesting news, the Sharks are giving Claude Lemieux a two-way contract which will enable them to call him up to the NHL if the organization so chooses.
• The Blues had control of last night’s game against Anaheim but they threw it away.  At least David Perron is getting back to his scoring ways.
• The Lightning are hoping Evgeny Artyukin can become a consistent hockey player.  Rick Tocchet isn’t getting cocky after a couple victories in a row.
• The Leafs went from scoring a ton to hardly scoring at all, as the Buds lost 4-1 at Washington last night.  Considering the team is having trouble scoring, losing Matt Stajan for two weeks certainly isn’t good news.  The records of Paul Maurice and Ron Wilson aren’t that different if you compare the Leafs’ past two seasons.
• The Canucks didn’t exactly have trouble with the Senators on Sunday night.  The move to reunite Pavol Demitra with the twins worked well.
• It looks like the pep talk Bruce Boudreau had with Brooks Laich has worked wonders.  Last night was Mike Gartner night in Washington.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.