Clarification on the Tampa Bay Lightning Ownership Debacle

On the heels of the circus that has surrounded the Phoenix Coyotes ownership the past few months, the Tampa Bay Lightning are having their own front office issues. While it was first reported that Oren Koules had taken full control of the team over Len Barrie, SBN website Raw Charge has some clarification on what exactly is going down in Florida:

And Koules is letting this continue to play out, waiving the 60-day buyout period stuff from a report this morning from the St. Petersburg Times.

"Len Barrie said he gave up his exclusive window to try to buy the Lightning in late August, a month before it was to expire.

"Barrie also confirmed that co-owner Oren Koules, who technically is in his own exclusive buy period and within his rights to shut down any Barrie effort, is allowing St. Louis real estate developer Anthony Sansone Jr. to continue trying to put together a deal that would keep Barrie as a minority owner."

First off, this report verifies that Barrie had given up his window of opportunity to buy out Oren Koules in August -- a report by the Globe and Mail had suggested as much, but was contradicted at the time of publication by the revelation of Sansone Jr. exploring ownership potential with Barrie.