Bolts' scouting staff focused on upcoming draft

As the NHL playoffs get set to dwindle down to the final four, the Lightning have their sights set on No. 6.

While the search to fill the team's vacant general manager seat - a list that now reportedly includes former Hartford coach and current television analyst Pierre McGuire - the rest of the team's amateur scouting staff continues to go about the business of preparing for next month's NHL entry draft.

And whether there is a GM in place by that time or not, the task for Tampa Bay player personnel director Jim Hammett and head amateur scout Darryl Plandowski remains the same.

"In a perfect world it would be nice to have (a general manager) in place, but we are in the situation we are in," Hammett said. "But we all have experience in different departments, and in the scouting department we feel that it is business as usual. The thing that we need to do is keep going forward and supply the information to whomever is going to be there and ensure they have the resources and that we can bring them up to speed as soon as possible on the draft.

"We have to be prepared to make sure whomever comes in is prepared."

The Lightning's amateur scouts were in town over the weekend to hold meetings finalizing the team's draft list in preparation for the league's combine this month and the draft June 25-26 in Los Angeles. Most of the work for draft was done throughout the season and Hammett said "95 percent" of the team's current draft list will be the same one the team works off of at the draft table inside Staples Center.

The most intrigue from the team's standpoint is who will be available at the sixth spot?

At the top of most draft lists are forwards Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, who are expected to be off the board after Edmonton and Boston pick first and second, respectively. From there, depending on who is putting their list together, defensemen such as Brandon Gormley (Moncton of the Quebec Junior League), Cam Fowler (Plymouth, Ontario Hockey League) and Erik Gudbranson (Kingston, OHL) along with right wing Brett Connolly (Prince George, Western Hockey League) and Swiss left winger Nino Niederreiter (Portland, WHL) are expected to be among the most likely to be available.

With just more than a month to go until the draft, there is no preference from the Lightning perspective on picking one position over the other.

"Obviously a new GM would guide us (on positional need vs. best-player available) but for us, it's about taking the best player. We want a difference-maker whether that's on the blue line, in goal or from a forward. For us, it doesn't really matter," Plandowski said.

"We have six guys that we like (at the top of the list) and we'll end up with one of them. That's the nice part about picking sixth."