How Bill Zito built the Panthers into a two-time Cup Finalist – Sportsnet.ca

For the second straight season, the Florida Panthers have emerged as the best team in the Eastern Conference and are ready to compete in the Stanley Cup Final.

Look back through their progression over the past few years, and you’ll see that these Panthers are a far cry from the club general manager Bill Zito inherited when he first took the helm in the fall of 2020. The past four seasons have seen nearly the entire roster turned over, save for a trio of stars that preceded Zito and provided a solid foundation around which to build a team capable not just of competing but of truly contending.

Coaching changes also played a major role in the team’s trajectory. After cutting ties with Joel Quenneville in 2021, Zito handed the reins to Andrew Brunette for a season and was criticized when he cut his tenure short and hired Paul Maurice when the ex-Winnipeg Jets coach became available. Safe to say, after back-to-back Cup Final appearances under Maurice’s guidance, any signs of those critiques are long gone.

As we await puck drop between the Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, here’s a look at how Florida’s roster came together.

Building around established franchises faces

Panthers acquired via draft: Aleksander Barkov (2013), Aaron Ekblad (2014), Anton Lundell (2020)

While Florida’s roster features several first-rounders — with a particularly heavy presence of the class of 2014 — only three members of the 2023-24 Panthers were drafted by the club they now represent in the Cup Final. Captain Aleksander Barkov, drafted second overall in 2013, is the longest-tenured Panther on the squad, followed by defenceman Aaron Ekblad — first-overall selection just one year later in 2014. 

Both Barkov and Ekblad, of course, preceded Zito in Florida, and have continued to be team leaders under the GM’s guidance. While Zito has traded more first-round selections than he’s drafted, he did make good on his first draft at the helm in Sunrise, selecting Anton Lundell 12^th overall in 2020. Lundell has been one of Florida’s most productive players this spring, registering three goals and 12 points — tied for third-most on the team — through 17 games.

Turning low-risk pickups into top-end talent

The team Zito inherited upon his hiring in 2020 had established franchise faces in Barkov and Ekblad, and a No. 1 goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky, but not much of an identity when it came to its style of play. Zito wasted no time changing that, forging much of Florida’s identity on the open market. And when you’re not relying on cheap rookie deals to fuel your success, you’ve got to find inexpensive players elsewhere — especially when your goalie is earning $10 million annually (a deal that was tough to swallow in the early years but is now well worth the expense).

Over the course of his time in Florida, Zito has proven himself to be a savvy bargain hunter, successfully navigating free agency and challenging players to bet on themselves via short-term, low-risk and high-reward contracts. For example, he opened his first free-agency period at the helm of the Panthers with the signings of Radko Gudas, Alexander Wennberg, Carter Verhaeghe, Ryan Lomberg, and Vinnie Hinostroza. While some have since moved on (Gudas left for Anaheim last summer after playing an integral role on Florida’s blue line deep into the playoffs, and Wennberg and Hinostroza are also no longer with the club), Verhaeghe and Lomberg are still playing important roles on the Panthers after making good on short-term deals and earning themselves new contracts with the club.

Verhaeghe, for example, earned a new three-year, $12.5-million pact in July 2021 after Zito initially brought him in on a two-year, $2-million deal prior to the 2020 season.

While much of Zito’s heavy lifting occurred earlier in his tenure, last summer’s moves after the club’s Cup Final run are yielding strong results this spring. After several players walked in free agency last year, including Gudas (Anaheim), Anthony Duclair (Tampa Bay), and backup netminder Alex Lyon (Detroit), Zito went to work again to bulk up his bottom six and defence. He signed Evan Rodrigues to a four-year, $12-million deal and, knowing the Panthers had to start the 2023-24 season banged up on the blue line, targeted some cost-effective contracts there — Niko Mikkola at a $2.5-million AAV for three seasons, Dmitry Kulikov at $1 million on a one-year deal, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson at $2.25 million for 2023-24 after the defender was bought out by the Canucks and in desperate need of a fresh start. Zito also insured his crease with a one-year, $1.1-million pact for backup Anthony Stolarz.

Panthers acquired via free agency: Sergei Bobrovsky (2019; signed by Dale Tallon), Carter Verhaeghe (2020), Ryan Lomberg (2020), Nick Cousins (2022), Niko Mikkola (2023), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2023), Dmitry Kulikov (2023), Anthony Stolarz (2023), Kevin Stenlund (2023), Evan Rodrigues (2023)

Winning the waiver wire

Zito’s keen eye on the waiver wire may have brought his best bargain yet in defenceman Gustav Forsling, whose development from well-traveled defender (he jumped from Vancouver to Chicago to Carolina within the first few years of his career, with few reps to show for it) to clutch Conn Smythe contender has been one of the best stories of this Panthers playoff run. And Zito’s acquisition of the two-way defender, who’s thrived while earning some of these playoffs’ toughest assignments, might just be one of the GM’s smartest moves of his Florida tenure.

Zito claimed Forsling off Carolina’s waivers in January 2021 and very quickly extended him for three years at $2.66 million per season. He looks even smarter now, after extending the would-be UFA in March to an eight-year, $46-million deal that was already a bargain on signing day and looks even better now three round deep in the post-season.

Considering some of the tough contract decisions ahead for this group of defenders, with Ekman-Larsson, Kulikov, and Brandon Montour all poised for free agency, locking up Forsling to an affordable deal brings a little stability to a blue line that could undergo some changes this off-season.

Hitting home runs on the trade market

While it’s not necessarily fair to boil a GM’s dealings down to just one single, franchise-altering transaction, it’s hard not to do just that when you look at how Zito went about constructing his contender. But while the blockbuster trade for Matthew Tkachuk caught everyone by surprise, you can see the writing on the wall if you look at the deals he pulled off beforehand that set him up to pull it off.

April 2021: Acquiring Brandon Montour (Buffalo) and Sam Bennett (Calgary)

While the Tkachuk deal drastically altered, well, everything, Zito’s dealings in just a two-day span ahead of the 2021 trade deadline played a major role in the direction of the team to get there. While Playoff Sam Bennett quickly endeared himself to Panthers fans, it was Brandon Montour’s presence on the blue line (all for the low cost of a third-round pick and less than $4 million in cap space) that has proven to be the best trade bargain of the bunch. He re-signed for three more years that summer at $3.5 million per year, and is now in line for a sizeable raise this summer as a pending UFA.

July 2021: Landing Reinhart from Buffalo

One year before landing Tkachuk, Zito took a chance on Reinhart, sending goalie Devon Levi and a 2022 first-round pick to Buffalo in exchange for the forward. After underperforming with the Sabres, he quickly hit his stride in Florida and this year found another gear altogether with a 57-goal campaign. He’ll be one of the most-watched names on the free-agency front this summer as a UFA, unless Zito can keep him in the fold with an extension before that.

July 2022: Trading for Tkachuk

Forget just Florida — the bold trade that sent franchise cornerstones Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar (as well as prospect Cole Schwindt and a first-round pick) to Calgary for Tkachuk (and a fourth-rounder) changed the fate and landscape of the entire league. No player has captured the spirit of Panthers playoff hockey like Tkachuk, and he brought the production to match — he’s led Florida in points through back-to-back post-season runs. That Zito quickly and tactfully signed Tkachuk to a $9.5-million AAV, just shy of captain Barkov’s $10-million cap hit, has been the icing on the cake in this deal.

Acquiring experience at the deadline

While the Panthers snuck into the post-season last spring, there was no questioning their status as contenders as this year’s trade deadline rolled around — and Zito acted accordingly, with a pair of trades that brought in valuable experience.

In Vladimir Tarasenko, acquired from the Ottawa Senators for a pair of mid-round picks, Florida got a rental sniper who knows what it takes to win it all. The 2019 Cup champ with the St. Louis Blues started his Panthers tenure with 14 points in 19 games down the stretch and now has six points through 17 playoff games.

Veteran Kyle Okposo, who joined Florida from Buffalo at the deadline, has brought strong locker room leadership as he gets his first taste of a serious playoff run in Florida.

Panthers acquired via trades: Eetu Luostarinen (2020* acquired by Dale Tallon), Sam Bennett (2021), Brandon Montour (2021), Sam Reinhart (2021), Matthew Tkachuk (2022), Steven Lorentz (2023), Kyle Okposo (2024), Vladimir Tarasenko (2024)

Can Zito keep his core together?

Zito deserves the heaps of praise he’s received for compiling this roster full of skill and grit, and while the focus is now firmly on claiming the Stanley Cup, it’s hard for those of us on the outside not to peek around the corner at the next challenge awaiting this roster…

Take a look at Florida’s CapFriendly profile, and you’ll see a heavy presence of UFA red. Foundational identity players, including Reinhart and Montour, as well as depth skaters like Lomberg and Cousins and short-term signings in Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Dmitry Kulikov are all poised to hit unrestricted free agency, setting up Florida not only as one of the most fun teams to watch this spring but a fascinating one this summer, too.