Raw Charge, a Tampa Bay Lightning community

For anyone wondering about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the Varlamov deal this past summer, I got a chance to ask GM GM personally about our off-season acquisitions at the Acela Club VIP event this morning at Verizon. As It turns out, he shared in a rather jovial and unabashed mood, #1 and the Caps were in agreement on terms and "only $50,000 apart in salary when everything just stopped." Apparently after a few days they had his US agent look into why he hadn't responded to their offer, and he found out that "Varlamov's father had accepted money from the KHL club to help sway him" to sign there. Once it became apparent he was going to go to Russia or be claimed on waivers if they attempted to move him/were forced to match an offer sheet, it was just a matter of time before he got traded. Money quote of the day: "I'm hoping we win the Stanley Cup and Colorado does poorly, so we get both the 1st and 30th picks in the first round."