NHL Morning Papers (Monday Edition): Erik Cole is lightning fast, Predators not likely to complete trade and Sundin still undecided on return date

Here are the morning papers for Monday the 5th of January:

• The Ducks were playing with a number of youngsters in the lineup last night and they sure held their own, as Anaheim defeated Phoenix 2-0 at the Honda Center.
• The Thrashers mailed in yesterday’s game against Tampa Bay and also lost Bryan Little to a rib injury.
• Here is some information on a couple of the Bruins’ top prospects.  Meantime, Zdeno Chara has been just dominant lately.
• The Flames have had trouble against the Blackhawks all season long, writes Steve Macfarlane.  The Blackhawks’ third line outplayed the Flames’ first line.  Mike Cammalleri wishes the Flames were playing the Hawks again today.
• The Blackhawks did a good job of rebounding after two consecutive losses to the Red Wings.  There are three Hawks on the All-Star team already, but the team feels a couple more players, like Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp, deserve to be there.
• Tony Granato’s line changes didn’t work at all, as his team fell to the defensive Wild 2-0 at the Pepsi Center on Sunday.  Adam Foote left yesterday’s game with an arm injury.
• Kristian Huselius is going to miss tomorrow night’s game for Columbus with an upper-body injury.
• Dave Tippett was very happy with his team’s intensity and comeback effort yesterday, as the Stars defeated the Canucks 3-2 in a shootout at GM Place.  Stars winger Landon Wilson was happy to find out he didn’t suffer a concussion.  Darryl Sydor just feels right playing for the Stars.
• The Red Wings are that difficult to beat right now, writes Helene St. James.  Chris Osgood is happy to be back in the lineup.
• With team skills competitions taking place over the next little while, Erik Cole recorded the fastest lap in NHL skills competition history and Sheldon Souray hit 106.7 mph in the hardest shot competition at yesterday’s Oilers competition.  Meanwhile, the Oilers are not taking the Islanders lightly tonight.
• The Panthers pulled off a great comeback in the Bell Centre on Sunday afternoon, unfortunately they couldn’t finish the job in the shootout.  Brett McLean claims he and Sidney Crosby never agreed to fight over the weekend.
• The Wild is beginning to gain some confidence, as Minnesota shutout the Avalanche yesterday by a score of 2-0.  John Shipley says now is not the time for player development and patience if the Wild wants to make the playoffs.
• If changes are going to be made in Nashville, don’t bet on them being anything other than an internal roster move.
• The Habs defeated Florida at home on Sunday, but Jaroslav Halak made the game a little bit harder than it had to be.  Other than Jay Bouwmeester, there wasn’t anyone on the ice yesterday at the Bell Centre who has a shot to make Team Canada 2010, writes Red Fisher.  Dave Stubbs provides readers with all the information they could possibly want on the All-Star voting results.
• With yesterday’s win over Ottawa, the Devils caught the Rangers in the standings.
• Mike Comrie will sure be hearing the boos tonight in Edmonton, writes Greg Logan. 
• The Rangers experimented with some new lines at practice on Sunday.  The Rangers are also hoping to improve on the team’s struggling penalty kill.  New York has a chance to take advantage of a fragile Penguins team tonight, writes Larry Brooks.
• The frustration continues to build for the Senators, as the team blew a late third period lead to the Devils on Sunday.  Is change on the horizon in Ottawa?
• The Flyers continue to have a revolving door when it comes to injuries, writes Ed Moran.
• Sure the Penguins are struggling, but Ray Shero isn’t going to make a trade that he wouldn’t have made earlier in the season.  Sergei Gonchar was happy to be on the ice with a couple of his teammates for a short time yesterday.  Boy do the Penguins miss Gonchar.
• It looks like Doug Murray (lower body) will return to the Sharks lineup for Tuesday’s game at Calgary.
• If you haven’t noticed, Blues newcomer Alex Steen has 11 points in his last 14 games.
• Mike Smith continued his tremendous season by leading the Bolts to a 4-1 win over the Thrashers on Sunday.  After reading this, you will realize that Andrej Meszaros is one tough player.
• Leafs fans have grown to love the willingness to battle of defenseman Jonas Frogren.  Who needs Bryan McCabe? The Leafs defense has been terrific at producing points this season.
• Mats Sundin still hasn’t made a final decision on when he’ll play his first game with Vancouver.  Last night’s loss to Dallas could have gone either way.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.