Knight vs. Bob? Barkov extension? Panthers’ GM answers offseason questions after big 2021
Bill Zito took almost five full seconds to sort through his thoughts to sum up his first season as the Florida Panthers’ general manager.
There was an easy answer to the big-picture question posed Wednesday: How much closer do you think you are, ultimately, to where you want to get to today than in Day 1 you had on the job?
For almost every season in the past 25 years, the Panthers were an afterthought. This year, they looked like a Stanley Cup contender before falling to the defending-champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Progress, at this point, is undeniable and there’s a good chance Zito will win the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award because of it.
“Well, we needed 16 wins,” Zito said after his lengthy pause. “We got two.”
He conceded, of course, the Panthers “made great strides” and kept referring to the season as “fun.” It was, after all, a record-setting year for Florida, which recorded its best points percentage ever, tied the franchise record for goal differential despite the shortened schedule and reached the Stanley Cup playoffs for only the seventh time.
It also ended the same way nearly ever Panthers season does, with an early exit before the second round of the Cup playoffs.
The foundation might be in place for a serious Cup run, but there was still no reason to go home happy after the Lightning finished off a 4-2 series win with a 4-0 victory last Wednesday in Tampa. In a series of exit meetings in the last week, Zito has seen a uniform response from his players.
“To a man, every single guy started out with, I have a bad taste in my mouth,” Zito said. “Those are my words, but some version of they were dissatisfied with how the season ended and felt that we could do more, and were excited to get back for next season, so that collective dissatisfaction with where we are actually makes me feel very, very good about where we are as a team.”
Zito’s first offseason was an overwhelming success. The GM overhauled the fringes of the roster to get the most out of star forwards Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, and unearthed a few new potential stars and foundational players in the process.
With about $10 million in projected cap space, Florida can bring back most of the current roster and even probably upgrade. On Wednesday, Zito started to provide some answers to some of the biggest questions facing his team this summer.
Sergei Bobrovsky or Spencer Knight?
The single biggest dilemma Zito faces going into his first full offseason with the Panthers is his goaltending situation.
Sergei Bobrovsky is heading into the third year of a seven-year, $70 million contract. Chris Driedger, the stalwart backup goaltender, is likely headed elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent for a chance to be a full-time starter. Spencer Knight, the 20-year-old rookie goaltender, still has only six games of NHL experience, but he was clearly Florida’s top option in the playoffs.
Once the 2021 IIHF World Championship wraps up, special advisor to the general manager Roberto Luongo will return to South Florida — he’s currently working as Canada’s general manager — and Zito will hold a meeting to discuss the goalie situation.
“We’ll sit down with the goaltending department , and we’ll go through everything with coach [Joel Quenneville] and Robby Tallas, and decide on a strategy for the goaltending next year,” Zito said. “Spencer did a great job and I thought there were a lot of highlights to Bob’s season, as well.”
After a disastrous debut season with the Panthers, Bobrovsky was better in Year 2, posting a .906 save percentage and 2.91 goals against average in the regular season before falling apart in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In three playoff games, Bobrovsky posted an abysmal .841 save percentage with a 5.33 goals against average.
Knight, who began the year playing for the Boston College Eagles, played in four regular-season games with a .919 save percentage and 2.32 goals against average, then put up a .933 save percentage with a 2.06 goals against average in two postseason starts.
“I can speak for Q and one thing that we’ve been trying to work toward is the best players play, so on any given night Q’s going to address the lineup, and he said this time and time again: I’m going to try to win hockey games,” Zito said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into many things, so we’re going to get with the goaltending department and we’ll figure it out.”
Can Panthers extend Aleksander Barkov?
Barkov is locked up through the 2021-22 NHL season, but both he and the Panthers say they want to get an extension done before next season begins.
The center said last week he’s as happy as he has ever been in his hockey career and “we’ll come up with something” with regards to an extension.
Conversations have not yet begun between Zito and agent Todd Diamond, but Zito said figuring out a deal is “paramount.”
“I’m going to reach out to the agents and start those processes in short order,” Zito said. “It’ll be something that’s paramount for me and we’ll address in short order.”
Will Aaron Ekblad be ready?
Aaron Ekblad is up and walking around, Zito said, after sustaining a leg fracture in March.
“He’s making some pretty significant progress,” Zito said.
Last week, Quenneville said the defenseman is on track be ready for training camp after missing the final two months of the season and all reports are positive.
Ekblad’s presence was sorely missed in the Cup playoffs, as Florida kept shuffling its defensive pairings while it searched for answers. The Panthers are at risk of losing some defensive depth because of the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, too — Florida may not be able to protect defenseman Gustav Forsling — so Ekblad will be needed to stabilize a tumultuous unit.
Will Anton Lundell join Panthers?
Florida doesn’t just expect Anton Lundell to join the team for training camp later this year.
“I’m going to go get him myself,” Zito joked.
The Panthers took Lundell with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and ESPN.com ranked him as the No. 22 prospect in hockey after an excellent start to the 2020-21 Liiga season. He finished the year in Finland’s top league with 16 goals and nine assists in 26 games, and has been just as good at the IIHF World Championship with four goals and two assists in seven games so far.
Between Lundell and Knight, Florida could enter next season with two of the top 15 prospects in hockey — and left wing Grigori Denisenko actually currently ranks higher than both of them.
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 3:34 PM.
