NHL Morning Papers (Monday Edition): Flyers are out of the Sundin sweepstakes, the Blackhawks honor Dale Tallon’s father and Gaborik’s return should happen this week

Here are the morning papers for Monday the 15th of December:

• The Ducks worked hard to outshoot the Wild last night, and it paid off with a 4-2 home victory.  Brendan Morrison scored the winner last night and it has become evident that the veteran center is starting to find his game.
• Some coaches don’t like the two-goalie system, but Bruins coach Claude Julien likes it because it will keep his two netminders fresh for the playoffs.  Boston is just doing so many good things as a team, writes Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
• Mike Keenan is starting to gain more confidence in young defenseman Adam Pardy.  Off the ice and in the court room, Todd Bertuzzi will appear in court today in Toronto.  More from off the ice, as Flames backup netminder Curtis McElhinney is just glad his sister is okay after she got into a car accident the other day.  Meanwhile, veteran defenseman Adrian Aucoin has been just terrific for the Flames as of late.
• The Carolina Hurricanes are a hard team to get a read on, writes Chip Alexander.
• The Blackhawks have only lost once on home-ice and continued their hot play at the United Center last night in a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets.  Forget their play on the ice, the Hawks are incredible team players off the ice as well, just ask Dale Tallon.
• With Joe Sakic on IR, Adam Foote is the oldest member of the Colorado Avalanche.  The Avs face the Wings tonight and as Adrian Dater tells us, lots has changed since last spring.  In positive news, it looks like Ben Guite, Darcy Tucker and Marek Svatos are close to returning to the line-up.  The hope is that all of these three players will return during the team’s difficult four-game road trip.
• The Blue Jackets were discouraged after last night’s loss at Chicago.  If you weren’t aware, Jackets netminder Steve Mason is a good puck-mover.  At least the Jackets have been staying out of the box lately.
• Even though Sean Avery’s tenure with Dallas is over, that doesn’t mean he didn’t leave a mess behind.  Here is more Sean Avery reaction from Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News.
• Chris Osgood hasn’t been on top of his game, but he will get the start tonight when the Avalanche comes to town.  Meanwhile, Johan Franzen is hoping his two goals on Saturday night get him back on track.
• George Richards of the Miami Herald has been very impressed with Stephen Weiss’s leadership ability.  On the injury front, it looks like Nathan Horton and David Booth are ready to return to the line-up.
• The Wild lost again last night, making it five straight defeats, so the prospect of Marian Gaborik returning can’t come fast enough.  Michael Russo tells us that the Wild has yet to approach Niklas Backstrom this season about a contract extension.
• Jack Todd discusses the inconsistencies of Alexei Kovalev in this morning’s Monteal Gazette.  Habs youngster Ben Maxwell was just excited to sport the CH on the front of his jersey for the first time.
• The Predators’ AHL affiliate in Milwaukee has been successful as of late, so don’t be surprised to see some of the team’s players in the NHL before long.
• It looks like Rick DiPietro is going to try to return to the Islanders line-up within the next 7-10 days.
• Coach Tom Renney didn’t want Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist stewing on the team’s flight to the West Coast so he gave him the start on Saturday versus Carolina and it paid off.  The Rangers aren’t/won’t be able to unload big contracts to make room for Mats Sundin under the salary cap, instead they are expected to make a number of small roster moves if need be.
• Mike Fisher brushed aside Don Cherry’s criticism of how the Senators dress before games.  Team captain Daniel Alfredsson says his team needs to score a little bit more.
• The Flyers are out of the Mats Sundin sweepstakes because they don’t have the cap room to afford him.
• Coyotes rookie Mikkel Boedker demonstrated great maturity for an 18 year old player on Saturday, writes Jim Gintonio.
• The Penguins are about to get Marc-Andre Fleury back in the team’s line-up this week.
• Jeremy Roenik will be out of the Sharks’ line-up for a few weeks but Joe Pavelski may play tonight after missing the third period of Saturday’s game.
• Blues forward B.J. Crombeen is one of a few NHL players that is playing with diabetes.
• The Lightning has made twice as many roster moves so far this season than they did the entire season when they won the Cup.  Meanwhile, coach Rick Tocchet wants to use the next few days off as a mini training camp.
• The Leafs players didn’t mind not playing on Hockey Night in Canada for once.  The Leafs are starting to show signs of an improved penalty-kill, writes James Mirtle.  In other news, the team also sent Anton Stralman down to the minors.
• The Canucks were slumping hard and then fell behind 2-0 last night to Florida, but they turned it around and recorded a 5-3 home victory.  The second period sure was the key.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.