So. Dylan Larkin reportedly wants out of Detroit. Good to see the Yzerplan is going swimmingly in the Motor City so far. So, what does this have to do with the Tampa Bay Lightning? Well, probably not much to be honest. In fact, we wouldn’t be writing this except for a few things. One, there isn’t much happening at Channelside Drive these days. Two, the Lightning are a team in contention, and that seems to be what Larkin is looking for. Three, a couple of rather prominent journalists haven’t ru...
For the fifth time in his career, Connor McDavid was named the most outstanding player in the league by the NHLPA. Unfortunately, for McDavid the award was handed to him on the golf course instead of the ice. It’s the fifth time he’s won the award, matching Wayne Gretzky on top of the list, and at 29, there is a good chance that he’ll pass the Great One at some point in his career.
McDavid dragged the Edmonton Oilers to the playoffs on his back as led the league with 138 points (48 goals,...
The ultimate team trophy may have eluded the Tampa Bay Lightning this season, but they are racking up the individual accolades. First, it was Jon Cooper finally nabbing a Jack Adams, now it’s Andrei Vasilevskiy returning back to the top of goaltender mountain as the NHL general managers voted him the “goaltender adjudged to be the best at his position” aka the Vezina Trophy winner.
It is his second Vezina, having won the award following the 2018-19 season, and the sixth time he’s been a f...
With the Stanley Cup Final underway, we feel it’s a pretty good time to check in on our pre-season predictions. Longtime readers of Raw Charge also know this as the annual “Things Justin G. was wildly incorrect about” column as well. We’ll admit it, prognostication isn’t the sharpest tool we wield (that would be grammatical mistakes), but it is always a fun thing to do.
Looking back at how those guesses have aged is also wildly entertaining. So, take a gander at the original post (especia...
After a decade of close calls in his career, including two previous finalist nominations, Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper can finally fill the empty spot on his mantle that was reserved for a Jack Adams award. On Wednesday, the league announced that the NHL Broadcasters’ Association had voted him the coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success”.
To say it was a trying season behind the bench is an understatement. Injuries forced the Lightning to use 30 dif...
Darren Raddysh wasn’t just one of the best defenders on the Tampa Bay Lightning, he ended up, at least in the eyes of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, as one of the best defensemen in the NHL. On Tuesday, the league announced that Zach Werenski won the award, his first, and released the final vote tallies. Raddysh finished with 14 total votes broken down by 0 first-place votes, 0 second-place votes, 1 third-place vote, 2 fourth-place votes, and 3 fifth-place votes. That tied him wi...
Stop us if you’ve heard this before. The Chicago Blackhawks are up against a deadline to sign one of their prospects and somehow that prospect ends up with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Last year it was Dominic James, and this year it is Jack Pridham. Chicago’s third-round selection (92 overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft was set to have his contract rights expire if he didn’t sign his entry-level contract or commit to a college program by 5:00 PM EST on June 1. Had he done neither, the 20-year-old woul...
Noah Steen has had a magnificent World Championship tournament. He entered the bronze medal game against Canada with six goals. His tournament-leading seventh goal gave Norway something they have never had in the history of their hockey program – a medal in an IIHF major series tournament.
Noah Steen scores in OT to beat Canada and win bronze (via IIHF) [image or embed] — CJ Fogler ( @cjzero.bsky.social ) May 31, 2026 at 2:05 PM
The Lightning brass will probably be just as happ...
The Tampa Bay Lightning accelerated the timeline of one of their more intriguing prospects. On Friday, they announced that they signed Benjamin Rautiainen to a three-year entry-level contract. The 20-year-old is now set to start next season in North America with either the Syracuse Crunch or the Tampa Bay Lightning. While this wasn’t entirely unexpected, the Lightning did have to buy out the final season of his contract with Tappara in order to facilitate the deal.
With the signing, Rauti...
So, the Toronto Maple Leafs may be open to trading the first overall pick if the right deal comes along. Could the Lightning come up with a deal that would pry the pick (and presumably Gavin McKenna) out of their cold Canadian fingers? Probably, but it would involve blowing up the roster, something that Julien BriseBois doesn’t seem quite ready to do just yet.
However, just the speculation of dealing a first overall pick, something that hasn’t been done for quite awhile, brought back memo...
There isn’t going to much change in the Tampa Bay Lightning roster over this summer. At least that’s what Julien BriseBois is leading everyone to believe. For the most part, it’s not a bad idea. The Lightning have been one of the better teams in the league over the last two seasons in a lot of categories that tend to lead to post-season success. Unfortunately, that hasn’t quite worked out for them when it counts, but the only way up is to keep improving.
One area that they can use a boost...
Well, kids, we’re back. Thanks to some travel issues, it wasn’t quite the middle of nowhere experience we had hoped for, but we were still able to disconnect, enjoy a different city, eat too much food, and watch too much television. Now, that the brain has been refreshed a little, it’s time to get back into the swing of things.
It doesn’t appear we missed much when it comes to the Lightning. They signed Scott Sabourin to a one-year, two-way contract , which is nice. PuckPedia lists the te...
Folks, it’s that time of year where your friendly neighborhood managing editor disappears into the woods for a few days to recharge the ol’ mental battery. So the site will go dark until Monday.
We’re heading deep into a national park for some hiking and hammocking. No cell service. No social media. Limited news. So congrats to whichever team wins games in the Conference Finals this weekend.
That being said, if anything major happens you might see a basic information post that I bang...
Jakob Pelletier only appeared in five NHL games this season, his lowest since he made his debut in 2022-23. While that probably wasn’t what he was hoping for when he inked his three-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning last summer, he didn’t let it affect his game. Instead, he put up a career season with the Syracuse Crunch, leading the AHL in points.
In turn, he was named the Fortune Tires “Expect More” AHL Player of the Year. In 63 games, Pelletier put up 28 goals and 49 assists. Five...
Well, there will be no arbitration hearings this summer for the Tampa Bay Lightning (unless, of course, Julien BriseBois pulls off some sort of trade). The Bolts headed into the off-season with one restricted free agent that had arbitration rights, and on Tuesday, they agreed to a contract with that player. Max Groshev is now under contract for another two seasons as he agrees to a two-year, two-way deal with the Lightning.
Groshev was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft and has...
The Tampa Bay Lightning want to sign Darren Raddysh. After all, it’s always easier to predict the future with known commodities. Unfortunately, teams don’t always get what they want, especially in free agency. There are a lot of factors out of their control that can determine where the Bald Eagle decides to nest next season. So, if he does take flight in free agency, can the Lightning bring someone else in to help fill the hole? Maybe.
In fact, there could be a player that is pretty much ...
The Montreal Canadiens sure aren’t doing anything the easy way this spring. For the second series in a row, they blew a chance to clinch a round on home ice in Game 6 as they blew a 3-1 lead on their way to an 8-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Now they’ll have to head into Buffalo tonight and try to win another Game 7 on the road if they want to advance to the Eastern Conference Final.
Meanwhile, Carolina is more than happy to watch the two teams beat each other up as they set a...
Manon Rheaume is a name that is forever etched in Tampa Bay Lightning history. On September 23, 1992 (back when the Tampa Tribune was just 25 cents) she appeared in a pre-season game for the Lightning against the St. Louis Blues, stopping seven of nine shots in one period of play. Her debut marked the first time a woman participated in one of the four major North American sports leagues.
Rheaume would appear in two games for the Atlanta Knights that season, posting a 0-1-1 record with a 6...
A couple of days ago, we brought up the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning had a decision to make on a couple of their prospects. The draft rights to Kaden Pitre and Jan Golicic are set to expire on June 1st. If they aren’t signed to an entry-level deal by then, they are considered unrestricted free agents. Unless! Unless they decide to head to college. Under a new agreement, prospects who have played in Canadian junior hockey are eligible to play for U.S. collegiate programs. The benefit for t...
Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois is doing his best to lower the expectations of fans when it comes to a big free-agent splash. Honestly, based on the talent available, there is no reason for anyone’s expectations to be above mildly intrigued by this class. If all the Lightning do is re-sign Darren Raddysh, an argument can be made that they nabbed one of the top players available.
That’s not fun, though, right? The Lightning have some cash, well, cap space, and some nee...
The Tampa Bay Lightning probably weren’t going to go after Charlie Coyle, the 34-year-old forward who finished the season with Columbus. Now, it looks like no one is going to get the chance. The Columbus Blue Jackets are re-signing Coyle to a six-year deal that carries a $6 million AAV. The new contract will keep him in red, white, and blue until 2032. Welcome to the new salary cap.
Coyle was ranked 7th in The Athletic’s Big Free Agency Board and is solid, middle-of-the-lineup center. He ...
Much like his Tampa Bay Lightning Opening Night teammates, Mitchell Chaffee’s season ended in disappointment. Unlike most of them, Chaffee’s year ended in Syracuse instead of Tampa. A season that started with the chance of a bigger role in the NHL ended 1,200 miles away when the Crunch fell to the Cleveland Monsters in their first-round match-up. As an unrestricted free agent, the 28-year-old will have to decide if his future remains in Tampa, or if there is another franchise that will give hi...
Julien BriseBois’ could have one of the easiest summers of his tenure as Lightning general manager. Sure, he needs to find some depth scoring, make the team a little younger without sacrificing talent, and figure out what to do with Darren Raddysh and Nikita Kucherov, but at least he doesn’t have a lot of RFA’s to deal with. One additional task on his summer to-do list is decide if the Lightning are going to offer entry-level contracts to two of their recent draft picks.
The draft rights ...
Yesterday, we talked about Declan Carlile making the U.S. squad that is heading to the IIHF Men’s Ice Hockey World Championship, and today it’s J.J. Moser’s turn. The Lightning’s best defenseman this year will keep his season going as he will join Team Switzerland for the international tournament that will be played in Zurich and Fribourg. Team Canada also announced their roster , but there will be no Lightning players joining them (as of right now). So, for now, it’s just Moser and Carlile he...
about 1 month ago
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On Friday, the NHL released the names of the three finalists for the Hart Trophy, given to the player that scores the most points that the PHWA deems the “most valuable to his team”. The three finalists are Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, and the greatest player in Tampa Bay Lightning franchise history – Nikita Kucherov. Those names aren’t exactly shocking, and quite frankly seem to be among the finalists year after year. There was some talk that Macklin Celebrini might...
about 1 month ago
· 2 reads