How Bill Zito made the Florida Panthers an annual contender and a destination for top players

When Bill Zito began his journey as the Florida Panthers’ general manager in September 2020, his initial goal was clear: He wanted the Panthers to be a destination team, one where top players willingly want to play and thrive in the process.

“It is not just a number on a contract, but there is value to your life and with the team,” Zito said. “Fit plays a big part, and we are ever mindful of the fragility of the room, the team and the community.”

That has been at the epicenter of Zito’s cultural overhaul of the Panthers during the past four years. Little by little, addition by addition, season by season, Zito has crafted a roster that has the right blend of talent, trust and togetherness that results in a perennial contender.

And the results have been there — most recently with a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals last season and a chance to make a return bid this year. The Panthers entered Friday atop the NHL standings with a 43-17-4 record, a 90-point mark that has them one point ahead of both the Vancouver Canucks (41-17-7, 89 points) and Boston Bruins (37-13-15, 89 points) in one fewer game played.

“I think we’re a little bit ahead of what I would have thought,” Zito said. “I’d be lying if I told you ‘Oh yeah, this is the script.’”

The script is working.

Players want to come here, as Zito had hoped.

Just ask Matthew Tkachuk, who narrowed his choices to the Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and St. Louis Blues when he told the Calgary Flames he wanted a trade. Florida ultimately became his destination, and Tkachuk immediately added needed grit and physicality to the Panthers.

Or ask newcomer Vladimir Tarasenko, the 12-year NHL veteran, four-time All-Star and one-time Stanley Cup winner who waived his no-trade clause in his contract with the Ottawa Senators to be traded to the Panthers — and only the Panthers. The Panthers also traded for veteran forward Kyle Okposo and claimed defenseman Tobias Bjornfot off waivers on Friday to cap a busy trade deadline.

Players want to stay here, too. Just ask captain Aleksander Barkov, who signed an eight-year extension in 2021 that keeps him with the Panthers through the 2029-30 season. Or Gustav Forsling, who on Thursday signed an eight-year contract extension after evolving from a player who Florida picked up on waivers to being one of the top defensemen in the NHL. Or Sam Reinhart, who is in the midst of a career year and is a pending free agent but made it clear he would like to remain in South Florida.

“I really want to win a Stanley Cup and I feel like this is one of the best teams in the league,” Forsling said. “This is where I’ve got the best chance to win. For years to come, I think we’ve got a really good team. That’s very exciting.”

The players feel the passion and commitment in the dressing room. Step inside and get a glimpse of how they interact with one another. It never changes. Players are chirping at each other, keeping the mood light regardless of the outcome.

“It’s a good atmosphere,” said defenseman Aaron Ekblad, the second-longest tenured player on the roster behind Barkov. “At the end of the day, we want to have fun away from the ice so we can bring it when it’s game time.”

The brain trust behind all of this: Zito, who assembled the Panthers’ core and has the franchise on a path to perennially contending for that long elusive Stanley Cup.

“That’s been our strength the last last few years,” Barkov said. “Everyone’s on the same page — not just the players, but the whole organization management, everyone. Everyone wants to do this thing together and it helps when you have so many people trying to achieve the same goal and same way so they do their part. We are trying to do our part and everyone’s helping each other.”

Added Zito: “At this point, at least our room, I think they know that we’re going to do everything we can to help them do their thing. It’s their thing. People pay to see them. It’s their team. It’s their success. But to the extent that we can help, I think the guys appreciate it and they know that we’re all in.”

How Bill Zito built the roster

Zito on Wednesday needed a moment to contain his emotions. He was preparing to announce that Forsling had signed his eight-year contract extension. It took him back to those early days of his general manager tenure, when he was just beginning to put his blueprint together.

Forsling became one of the first success stories of his tenure, and the sides agreeing on an extension validated one of the key points Zito emphasized as being part of the Panthers’ long-term success.

“It sends a message of guys wanting to play here,” Zito said, “and guys wanting to buy in.”

To understand how the Panthers got to where they are now is to understand how Zito put together this championship-caliber roster — and how the key players he brought in grew as a cohesive unit as the players continued to be added to the core.

Let’s start here: Only four members of the Panthers’ active roster — Barkov, Ekblad, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and forward Eetu Luostarinen — were with the franchise before Zito took over.

Zito quickly set the foundation for the direction he wanted the franchise to head in his first offseason. It began with acquiring Patric Hornqvist, who became one of the leaders in the dressing room up until his retirement after last season. It continued with Zito signing Carter Verhaeghe and Ryan Lomberg, drafting Anton Lundell and claiming Forsling off waivers.

At the 2021 trade deadline, the Panthers acquired center Sam Bennett from the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick and defenseman Brandon Montour from the Sabres. Both signed contract extensions after the season — Bennett for four years, Montour for three.

Zito then landed two more mainstays in the offseason ahead of the 2021-22 season, trading for Reinhart and claiming defenseman Josh Mahura off waivers.

Arguably the biggest splash came the summer before the 2022-23 season, when Zito traded for Tkachuk in exchange for two Panthers mainstays and fan favorites in Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. Tkachuk signed an eight-year contract extension after the trade was completed. Florida also signed forward Nick Cousins that offseason.

Then there were eight additions acquired last offseason — forwards Evan Rodrigues, Steven Lorentz and Jonah Gadjovich; defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niko Mikkola, Dmitry Kulikov; and goaltender Anthony Stolarz — before adding Tarasenko, Okposo and Bjornfot this week.

And that doesn’t begin to mention how Zito overhauled his coaching staff not once but twice — first when Joel Quenneville resigned early in the 2021-22 season over his role in the Chicago Blackhawks’ mishandling of abuse allegations and then when he decided not to retain interim coach Andrew Brunette after Brunette led Florida to a Presidents’ Trophy that year and instead hired veteran Paul Maurice to lead the team.

“They’ve been giving us the tools and the opportunity for a while know,” Ekblad said. “We’re all proud to be Panthers and when you get that kind of response from the leadership in the organization, it’s great to have that.”

A lot of players who came in with chips on their shoulder or something to prove as they approached the prime of their careers.

Like Verhaeghe, who was a fourth-line winger on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 2020 Stanley Cup Final team before he joined the Panthers. He then quickly evolved into a top-six forward and has scored 114 goals during his four seasons with Florida, including a career-high 42 in the 2022-23 season and has another 30 so far this season.

Like Forsling. His career was in doubt when the Carolina Hurricanes waived him in January 2021. The Panthers’ scouting department saw an opportunity.

“There was no hesitation,” Zito said. “Guys were pounding the table, ‘He can play.’’’

Turns our Forsling was able to do much more than that. He leads the NHL with a plus-minus rating of plus-44 and is second in the league with a plus-104 rating over the past three seasons when he began playing top pairing minutes.

And like Bennett. His career failed to take off with Calgary. He was deployed as a bottom-six winger most the time and put up just 67 goals and 140 points in 402 games with the Flames while having a minus-67 plus-minus. After being traded to Florida and being used mostly as the Panthers’ second-line center, Bennett has 64 goals and 134 points in just 196 games.

“Maybe it’s just by the time they get together in a group then something special happens with them,” Maurice said.

Importance of ‘the group, the togetherness’

Talent is key, but, as Maurice said, perhaps even more important is how that talent intertwines and builds together.

“A significant degree of the team’s success has to do with the character of the men in that room and our coaching staff,” Zito said. “You can scout and do the background checks on the players, but you can’t go get the character of a Sasha or a Matthew or have the superstar and work ethic of a Bob. It can’t be overstated how important that is. Coming in, yeah. They’re all great players. I knew Bob’s work ethic. But until you experience it one-on-one, it’s not something I could have comprehended. It’s that impressive to me.”

Zito took that into consideration when working through the motions of the trade deadline this week. Tarasenko and Okposo both have connections inside the dressing room. Both have a team-first mentality, prioritizing wins over individual stats.

“We feel the strength of this group is that idea of the group, the togetherness,” Maurice said. “So, when you bring somebody in, you’re always mindful of that.”

That has been a priority for Maurice the past two years. Everyone has an understanding of how they fit into the puzzle that is the Panthers’ roster. Their role is their role. Players don’t need to try to do more than they’re asked.

“Different players have different roles,” Zito said. “Think of a band. The drummer might not be the singer, but he’s the drummer. So you do your job as the drummer.”

The results have shown because of it, with the Panthers once again in position for another deep playoff run.

The group that Bill Zito build once again has things trending in the right direction.

“At the end of the day,” Ekblad said, “it’s all about winning in the playoffs. That’s the game that we’re building. ... We’re playing a game that can win in the playoffs and that’s an important point.”