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The Montreal Canadiens were defeated in round two of the Eastern Conference semi-finals by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

For a team that was called elite by some, it wasn’t much of a contest and the Habs rolled over easily in Game 6, as the Lightning finished them off handily. The Canadiens looked defeated early and were stood up at the offensive blue line on their entires by the Lightning’s defenceman and hemmed in their own zone by a hungrier, more talented and more detailed Lightning squad.

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The Maple Leafs‘ attention is still sharply focused on picking a new General Manager and Head Coach for the team. While it appeared a very long shot at wooing Mike Babcock to coach the Maple Leafs, they now look to be among the favourites, along with the heavily favoured Buffalo Sabres, who appear to be in the lead for his services.

As far as the position of General Manager, the Maple Leafs look to be in a holding pattern until they are granted permission to speak with the Assistant General Manager of the New York Rangers, Jeff Gorton. New York Rangers General Manager Glen Slather has denied permission to other clubs to speak with Gorton until they are officially eliminated from the playoffs or win the Stanley Cup.

Jeff Gorton has an excellent resume as interim General Manager of the Boston Bruins. It includes drafting Milan Lucic (2nd round), Brad Marchand (3rd round) and Phil Kessel (1st), trading for Tuukka Rask, signing Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard. While working as assistant General Manager he was integral in drafting Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci in the second round.
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The other candidate for this unique organizational chart being created by Brendan Shanahan is Mike Futa, Assistant General Manager of the Los Angeles Kings. We’ve covered him here before and he has a strong record, as well.

Leafs to pick 23rd or 24th

With last night’s results, the Maple Leafs second pick in the first round is now going to be the 23rd or 24th pick.

https://twitter.com/generalfanager/status/598311624676495360

Previous 24th overall in NHL Drafts

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Previous 23rd overall in NHL Drafts

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