Here are the morning papers from the teams that did not qualify for the playoffs this season:
- The Hurricanes fans want Peter Laviolette behind the Hurricanes bench next season.
- Rick Nash had throat surgery yesterday, so he is expected to miss the early part of the World Championships, writes Aaron Portzline.
- The Oilers signed defenseman Dennis Grebeshkov to a 1 year, $1.5 million contract on Monday. “If he has a good year again next year, we can probably extend it from there. But it came from his end as far as the one year,” said Oilers vice-president of hockey operations Kevin Prendergast.
- The Islanders are continuing to work hard at improving their attendance, writes Katie Strang.
- The Coyotes have signed Hobey Baker Award winner Kevin Porter to his first pro contract.
- Vincent Lecavalier is scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery today and it is expected to sideline him for 12-15 weeks.
- Dave Nonis was surprisingly fired yesterday after a meeting with the club’s owner, writes Ben Kuzma. “I couldn’t feel more sorry for [Nonis],” said Ducks GM and Nonis’ mentor, Brian Burke. Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province says that Nonis paid a price for encouraging boring hockey. The Province wastes no time listing eight potential replacements for the Canucks GM post.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
Email any thoughts, ideas or suggestions to illegalcurve@gmail.com
