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

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.

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