Panthers’ Bill Zito once again finalist for GM of the Year. Will he finally win?
Will the fourth time be the charm for Bill Zito?
The Florida Panthers’ president of hockey operations and general manager on Friday was named as one of three finalists for the Jim Gregory Award, given annually to the NHL’s general manager of the year. The Winnipeg Jets’ Kevin Cheveldayoff and the Dallas Stars’ Jim Nill are the other finalists.
This marks the fourth time in five seasons with the Panthers that Zito has been named a finalist for the award, also being named one of the top three for the honor in the 2020-21 season, 2022-23 season and 2023-24 season. He did not win any of those previous times, with the New York Islanders’ Lou Lamoriello winning in 2021 and Nill winning in both 2023 and 2024.
Under Zito’s direction, the Panthers are once again in the midst of another long playoff run, reaching the Eastern Conference final for a third consecutive season and up 2-0 in the best-of-7 series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
This year, Zito had to restock his roster after losing several key players — most notably defensemen Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson plus depth forwards Kevin Stenlund, Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Steven Lorentz and Kyle Okposo — from last season’s Stanley Cup champion team. He did that by signing defenseman Nate Schmidt and forwards A.J. Greer, Jesper Boqvist, Tomas Nosek.
Zito then struck gold at the trade deadline, acquiring defenseman Seth Jones plus forwards Brad Marchand and Nico Sturm to fortify the roster for another playoff push.
And he continues to lock up the team’s core, re-signing star winger Sam Reinhart to an eight-year deal over the offseason while also extending fellow forwards Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe. Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who was in the final year of his deal, also signed a multi-year contract extension earlier this season.
.JPG)