The Florida Panthers Looking to Be Contender Many Years To Come

The mastermind behind the success of this team is General Manager Bill Zito. Now, the groundwork was laid out by former GM Dale Tallon and former head coach Joel Quenneville, who is now with the Anaheim Ducks. But Zito saw the team was flawed after losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in four straight games in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs and decided to change the entire identity of the team.

Not only does that take guts, but it also takes a willingness from ownership to listen and allow Bill Zito to construct the team in his vision. We all know how the Matthew Tkachuk acquisition changed the course of hockey in Florida. But it was the little moves along the way, like hiring Paul Maurice, the acquisitions of Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Seth Jones, Brad Marchand, picking Gustav Forsling off waivers, and so many other roster moves, that have the Florida Panthers in this position to succeed.

But that starts with the captain, Aleksander Barkov, who sets the tone with his commitment to the team and buy-in. That’s why guys want to play in Florida. It has nothing to do with state tax, but everything to do with playing for a winning organization. That is why you saw Marchand, Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad re-sign with the Panthers.

Few people thought he could get Marchand, Bennett, and Ekblad re-signed before the start of NHL Free Agency. Many thought one of those three would be on a different team. There was always a sense that Bennett and Ekblad were staying. The wild card in all of this was Marchand.

As Full Press Hockey can confirm, speaking with sources during the Stanley Cup Final, “Ekblad confirmed at the beginning of the year he wanted to be a Florida Panther. Though he never came out and said he was going to take less.”

But Ekblad had less market value. Marchand could have gotten the deal the Nashville Predators gave Steven Stamkos. That was four years times $8 million a season. He didn’t and takes less over more years. And as for Bennett, well, he confirmed he could have gone elsewhere, but the style and system the Florida Panthers play fit his game.

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So there was a growing sense that Zito was going to use all the tools in his toolbox to keep the Florida Panthers competitive and keep these three players. That was his goal after the Stanley Cup was won. He did not want to have to search for another right-handed shot defenseman as he did this past season. He acquired Seth Jones to fill the void Brandon Montour left when he signed with the Seattle Kraken. To do that two years in a row would be a challenging task.

But again, it comes back to the buy-in and playing for one another, which starts with Vincent Viola and bleeds down to Zito, to Maurice, to the players. They want to play for each other. And while the rest of the hockey world wants to cry about no-state income tax in Florida, these players are taking less because they want to win.

That is what made the teams in Boston so successful for years, from the Bruins to the Patriots to the Red Sex to the Celtics. No one player was bigger than the team itself. And you are seeing that with the Florida Panthers and the group of players that has been assembled. These guys play for one another and see their teammates as family.

And that is why Marchand, Bennett, and Ekblad are all back. They all took a little less for the greater good of the team. Not to mention, Zito was able to work out those deals so they are buyout-proof and tradeable in the later years.

That allowed Tomas Nosek, Jeff Pety, Daniil Tarasov, Mackie Samoskevich, and others to extend with the team. Again, Bill Zito has some tough decisions to make to get the Florida Panthers cap compliant come the start of the season, but that is something he is working on.

Though everyone points to Evan Rodrigues as the likely trade candidate, the team sees him as a vital piece to the organization. The most likely outcome is Matthew Tkachuk going on LTIR to start the season for the surgeries he will need from the injuries he sustained last season. Again, just another tool for Zito to use before it goes away.

Tkachuk will most likely miss the start of the season. This will get the Florida Panthers cap compliant and allow Zito to work on the behind-the-scenes play for when Tkachuk does return. Could someone like Jesper Boqvist be the odd man out there? But those are problems for later on in the season.

But the biggest tool in the toolbox for Zito and the Florida Panthers is the rising salary cap and the cap space they are getting after the 206-27 season. Other teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, and, for the most part, had to operate in a flat cap world for many years.

Florida’s accession happened at the backend of the flat cap and has the benefit of keeping their players long-term because of the cap space they are getting from more money being put into the system. Bill Zito mapped out these contracts masterfully. He will do it again when Sergei Bobrovsky needs an extension as well. There is a reason why he should have been named GM of the Year. While the name of Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill is on the award, everyone knows Zito is the best GM in the NHL.

That is why the Florida Panthers have become a model organization. They hire people who understand the CBA, scout and find players others don’t see as valuable, develop their players, and have a buy-in that keeps them as championship contenders every season.