NHL Morning Papers: Non-Playoff Teams (Thursday Edition)

Here are the morning papers for the teams that did not qualify for the playoffs:

• Sergei Samsonov has signed a three-year deal with the Hurricanes, writes Robbi Pickeral of the News Observer (Writer’s note: Was any team even going to offer Samsonov two years on the open market?)
• The Blues have fired Dave Baseggio the coach of their AHL affiliate in Peoria.
• Don Waddell has received a vote of confidence from the Thrashers ownership and is looking forward to hiring a coach and putting together his team this off-season.
• Dave Nonis believes the Canucks are not that far away from winning the Cup. Give the former Canucks GM credit, he took the high road at his farewell press conference. “Steve Tambellini should be the GM,” said Nonis on Wednesday. Nonis has no plans to just collect his money and says after he takes a little time off, he will be looking to get back into hockey. (Writer’s note: Here is my take on the Nonis firing.)

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.

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