Panthers hire Bill Zito as new GM. Here’s why he’s excited about taking over in Florida
Bill Zito touched down in South Florida on Wednesday to be announced as the Florida Panthers’ new general manager and had a text message waiting for him as he got off the plane. It was from Aleksander Barkov, the captain and face of the franchise, welcoming Zito to his new home.
A few hours later, he sat in front of a video camera and explained why he decided to leave his post in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ front office to become the 11th general manager in Panthers history. It started with players like Barkov and the Panthers’ still-young core of former top-three picks.
“I’m most excited about the youth and the pieces. I think it starts with the captain, who is just a fantastic player. I don’t know him as a person, but everything I hear about him is that he’s a wonderful, wonderful person,” Zito said. “They’re surrounded by some other great young pieces coming and a coach that knows how to bring them along, so we just need to keep adding to those young pieces and helping them. And bring them along and get some leadership to help them along, and that’s what excites me.”
On Sunday, president Matt Caldwell called Zito to inform him he was Florida’s choice to be Dale Tallon’s successor as general manager. The Panthers officially announced the hire Wednesday as Zito flew from Ohio to Florida to start in his new post.
Caldwell said Zito’s contract is a five-year deal.
Zito has for years been considered one of the NHL’s most promising up-and-coming GM candidates. He first joined the Blue Jackets as assistant general manager in 2013 and took over as the GM for AHL Cleveland in 2015, leading the Cleveland Monsters, then called the Lake Erie Monsters, to win the American Hockey League in 2016. With Zito’s help, Columbus has reached the Stanley Cup playoffs in four straight years after qualifying just twice in their first 15 seasons of existence.
“The GM role and leader of hockey operations -- that role has evolved so much. Obviously, you have to be a great talent evaluator and a team builder and, at the end of the day, to build a team you have to have great hockey sense,” Caldwell said. “That was an absolute priority, but, to go deeper than that, you need a leader. ... Bill is all that.”
Zito, 55, was born in Pittsburgh, raised in Milwaukee and played for the Yale Bulldogs. After his college career, Zito went to law school and eventually founded Acme World Sports, developing it into one of the most powerful agencies in hockey. When Zito left to join the Blue Jackets’ front office, Acme was the eighth-highest-grossing agency in the sport.
The Panthers’ extensive search led them to interview about two dozen candidates, ranging from assistant general managers, such as Zito, to television analysts, such as former Florida goaltender Kevin Weekes. Zito has the team-building experience the Panthers coveted, a track record in player development and strong relationships across the league from his time as an agent.
“Bill is an excellent mind in our game today who proved during his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets that he possesses great prowess for evaluating talent and building success,” owner Vincent Viola said in a statement. “He brings great experience to our club and possesses a strong business acumen.”
Columbus’ success at developing homegrown talent is the sort of model Florida would like to follow.
Two of the Blue Jackets’ last five All-Stars were drafted by the team and came up through Cleveland with Zito at the helm. Eleven of the players on Columbus’ current roster were drafted by the Blue Jackets in Zito’s time with the organization.
The Panthers struggled to develop this same sort of homegrown pipeline throughout Tallon’s 10 years in charge. Only four players drafted by Florida during Tallon’s tenure played in an All-Star Game and three of those — Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and left wing Jonathan Huberdeau — were top-three picks, who have combined for just four All-Star appearances. Of Tallon’s 12 first-round picks, only five played for the Panthers this season and they once again fell short of the traditional 16-team playoffs.
Tallon never guided Florida beyond the first round of the postseason and the Panthers reached the playoffs just three times with Tallon at the helm. Florida parted ways with Tallon, whose contract was expiring, last month, three days after the Panthers fell to the New York Islanders in the qualifying round of the expanded postseason. The NHL has since opened up an investigation into Tallon after he allegedly used a racial slur while with Florida in Toronto earlier this summer for the 22-team playoffs.
Zito is the latest addition for the Panthers, who have made a concerted effort to overhaul the organization in the last two years. Last offseason, Florida hired coach Joel Quenneville after he helped lead the Chicago Blackhawks to three Stanley Cups last decade and signed superstar goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to a seven-year, $70 million deal after he twice won the Vezina Trophy with the Blue Jackets.
Those two, along with the three former top-three picks, still form the core for the Panthers. Zito will now have to find a way to best supplement them and turn Florida into a perennial contender for the first time.
“My brain can’t stop working, thinking about everything this job entails, from player personnel to getting better by the time the season starts to what are we going to do in the Draft?” Zito said. “It’s overwhelming right now and I can’t wait to get started.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 10:26 AM.
