No state tax is why the Florida Panthers are succeeding? Not exactly, Bill Zito says

As the Florida Panthers prepare for their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final and attempt to win a second consecutive championship, there has been a lot of talk in hockey circles recently how a select group of teams possibly have an upper hand in the NHL because they play in states without an income tax.

This applies to six teams: the Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken.

So naturally, the topic was addressed to Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito on Tuesday during the team’s media day ahead of their Cup Final rematch against the Edmonton Oilers.

Zito, who since being hired ahead of the 2020-21 season has taken the Panthers from a team that hadn’t won a playoff series since reaching the Cup Final in 1996 to being one of the last two teams standing each of the past three years, scoffed at the notion that the lack of in-state tax is the primary reason for Florida’s success, calling it “marginal at best.”

“I think the most important thing for us in attracting players is I think the players have understood now how much we’ve been empowered by ownership to try to do the right things,” Zito said. “And it can’t be overstated what the Viola family has done for us to allow us to implement [what we need]. We need a new practice facility? ‘OK. Here you go.’ And it’s beautiful. And to allow us the flexibility to try to do the things that we think are necessary to try to win and to try to have an excellent organization. I think the players feed on that. They know that if the chicken isn’t right that we’re going to get new chicken. And it sort of transcends all that we do. It sounds silly, but it’s true and it’s real. The sun doesn’t kill us. It’s a nice environment to live in. It’s a good place for families. It’s a good place for singles. It’s got a little something for everybody and I’ll point to [coach] Paul [Maurice] and the coaching staff and that room. Players know — I’m not going to go through each one — but so many of the players who have come to us have had career years, and it’s a function of the coaches in the room. Players from the outside think that the tax thing is marginal at best, and I think the real reasons are that we’re trying to figure out a way to do our best to try to win.”

Checkers in the Final, too

The Panthers aren’t the only team in the organization playing for a championship.

The Charlotte Checkers, Florida’s American Hockey League affiliate, advanced to the Calder Cup Finals on Tuesday after completing a four-game sweep of the Laval Rocket in the Eastern Conference finals. Charlotte clinched the series with a 3-2 win, rallying back from a 2-0 deficit with a pair of goals in the second period before Jesse Puljujarvi scored the game-winner with 2:04 left in regulation.

This is the first time since 2008 that teams from the same organization have reached the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup Finals in the same season when the Pittsburgh Penguins and their AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins did so. The last affiliates to win both championships in the same season were the New Jersey Devils and Albany River Rats in 1995.

Charlotte will play either the Abbotsford Canucks (the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate) or the Texas Stars (the Dallas Stars’ affiliate) in the championship.

This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 10:14 AM.

Jordan McPherson

Miami Herald

305-376-2129

Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.