Monday marked the fourth anniversary of Bill Zito’s appointment as the Florida Panthers’ 11th general manager. Prior to joining the Panthers, Zito served as the senior vice president of hockey operations, associate general manager, and alternate governor for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Zito began his career with the Blue Jackets in 2013 after making a name for himself as a leading player agent and founding the successful ACME World Sports agency.
The Panthers were not Zito’s only potential destination; he was also considered for general manager positions with Buffalo, Carolina, Minnesota, New Jersey, and had interviewed with the Arizona Coyotes before settling in Florida. Both Zito and the Panthers are thrilled with how things turned out.
Reflecting on his hire, Zito expressed a mix of excitement and trepidation. “It’s humbling and very exciting. It’s also daunting,” he said in 2020. “There’s going to be a lot of hard work, and I am not afraid of it. I know what lies ahead, and I’m filled with enthusiasm. Last night, I was exhausted but still woke up at 3 a.m. with ideas racing through my mind. I had to start jotting them down. I suspect this will be my routine for the foreseeable future.”
Since Zito took the helm on September 2, 2020, he has played a pivotal role in transforming the Panthers from a team known more for its potential than its performance into a genuine contender. The Panthers, who ended the 2019-20 season with a four-game loss to the New York Islanders in the qualifying round of the Toronto Covid bubble, will look to defend their Stanley Cup title in Zito’s fifth season starting October 8.
Upon his arrival, Zito faced the challenge of rebuilding the roster after the trades of Vincent Trocheck and Nick Bjugstad. He chose to build around key players like Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Aaron Ekblad.
“If you maximize the potential of every player, it’s a pretty good group, right?” Zito commented in 2020. “Not everyone will be at their best all the time, which is unrealistic. But if these players can prepare and will themselves to excel, this is a strong group. I’m very optimistic.”
Zito’s first significant move was trading Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour to Pittsburgh for Patric Hornqvist. He also made Anton Lundell a first-round draft pick. During his initial free agency, he saw key players like Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman depart, while bringing in Radko Gudas, Carter Verhaeghe, Alex Wennberg, Anthony Duclair, and others.
The roster overhaul since Zito’s arrival suggests a major rebuild, yet Florida defied expectations. The Panthers made the playoffs in 2021 and won their first playoff series since 1996 in a President’s Trophy-winning season, despite a second-round sweep by the Lightning.
Refusing to rest on their laurels, Zito made a coaching change by hiring Paul Maurice and executed a major trade for Matthew Tkachuk, sending Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar to Calgary, which elevated the Panthers into true contenders. Additional acquisitions like Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Gus Forsling, and Brandon Montour further bolstered the roster.
The Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive years, securing their first championship on June 24. Zito has been a finalist for GM of the Year in three of his four seasons with the Panthers. While he has yet to win the award, he celebrated the Cup by fishing in the Keys and attending a Brewers game in his hometown.
“That first night was just surreal,” Zito said at the draft shortly after the Panthers won the Cup by defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Final. “I can’t describe how much better it was than I ever imagined.”
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