Raw Charge, a Tampa Bay Lightning community

With the revelations that have leaked out this morning regarding the 2013 NHL CBA negotiations and the potential for two amnesty buyouts (which have not been detailed to clarify the rules of such buyouts), here's the current status of the Lightning against the NHL salary cap for this season.

I get asked a lot in various media what I think of the pending NHL lockout. This post for SB Nation's NHL hub sums up my thoughts. (Only 630 words!) Or, in about 40 words: I'm not aligned to either side. Both have done quite well under the current CBA and will do quite well under the next one. Both leaders are very clever men whose public statements are to be seen as negotiating tactics, and nothing more. I'd rather talk about Bridgeport now.

If you want to chat up the NHL news of the day, this is your thread. What now for Kovalchuk? Two fewer years and a higher cap hit, or...? (I can think of 100 reasons (okay, maybe five) why this decision was upheld. Kovy/Devils partisans who say "rules are rules, this isn't fair" probably haven't read enough of the CBA, and definitely don't gather that ambiguous clauses - such as those in the CBA - are made to be interpreted as situations warrant.) The CBA left room to draw the line somewhere; sounds like the arbitrator buys the NHL's line.

Ken Campbell wrote a THN column that basically blamed the CBA/lockout/salary cap for not fixing everything and making everything perfect -- even saying the lockout was supposed to prevent the Kovlachuk situation (?!?!). The Hockey Plumber issues a nice rebuttal.

CBA is not being re-opened currently, Not really big news since this was expected due to the economy.