Panthers Add Josef Boumedienne, Others To Front Office

The Panthers announced four front-office additions on Sunday, including Swedish national team general manager Josef Boumedienne as their new vice president of hockey operations. Other hires include Josh Burke as a data engineer, Brooks Christensen as an amateur scout, and Killian Hamilton as a strength and conditioning coach.

Boumedienne, who skated in 47 NHL games for the Devils, Lightning, and Capitals from 2001-04, returns to an NHL staffing directory after a two-year absence. After ending his playing career in 2013 in Finland, he joined the Blue Jackets’ front office as a European scout.

The 48-year-old remained in Columbus for a decade, earning several promotions along the way. He served as the club’s director of European scouting from 2016-21 and director of professional scouting for another two years after that, before joining Pascal Vincent’s staff as an assistant coach for the 2023-24 campaign.

When the Jackets cleaned out their coaching staff after Vincent’s lone year at the helm, Boumedienne was on the chopping block. Over the past two years, he’s been the architect of Sweden’s teams at the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics. His 2025 World Championship squad, led by an exceptional performance from Elias Lindholm with eight goals in 10 games, won bronze for Sweden’s first back-to-back medals at the tournament since 2017-18.

The VP of hockey ops is a new title in Florida’s front office. He’ll serve under president/GM Bill Zito and senior VP of hockey ops Paul Krepelka, who also handles GMing duties for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.

Also notable among the hires is Christensen. The 35-year-old lands his first NHL job after only two years with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips as director of scouting. It was a fruitful tenure, though; Everett is coming off a 2026 championship and its best season in franchise history with a jaw-dropping 57-8-3 record.