The reigning Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers have very few players feeling any pressure in 2024-25, but veteran defenseman Aaron Ekblad has the hottest seat entering a contract year, while Panthers GM Bill Zito has earned total job security.

The Florida Panthers finally climbed the mountain and secured their first Stanley Cup in franchise history last season. With much of the same group returning for the 2024-25 season, along with some new faces, the pressure is on for them to match the success of last season and pull off back-to-back Cup wins, and they're the latest team being covered in THN.com’s Hot Seat Radar series.

We point out someone on the 'hot seat' who faces considerable pressure to achieve solid results or deal with the consequences. We’re also picking a person in every file on the 'cold seat' as an individual who is highly secure in their position and relationship with their respective team.

Panthers' Hot Seat: Aaron Ekblad, D

For the Cup-champion Panthers, it’s quite difficult to give the 'hot seat' label to any member of the franchise. GM Bill Zito has locked up most of the players who won the championship to at least the upcoming NHL season, but if there is anyone who’s somewhat unsettled over the long haul, it’s Ekblad, who is entering a contract season in 2024-25 and earning $7.5 million. The Panthers can fit Ekblad under the salary cap ceiling this coming year, but if Zito is being proactive as he often is, moving Ekblad at some point prior to the next trade deadline makes a lot of sense.

Injuries have taken their toll on Ekblad – he hasn’t played a full 82-game season since 2018-19 – but as a right-shot defenseman who is still only 28 years old, Ekblad could bring back a king’s ransom in a trade. Zito has shown he’s unafraid to take big swings and bid farewell to players who have a long history in Florida – just ask former Panthers Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar – so it’s far from out of the question that Ekblad could be moved.

Zito might be waiting until the NHL’s trade deadline to ratchet up the asking price for Ekblad, but it’s difficult to envision Ekblad getting a seven or eight-year contract extension with the Panthers. Florida’s embarrassment of riches throughout the lineup means very few, if any players are untouchable. And Ekblad – who has a modified no-trade clause allowing him to veto a deal to 12 teams of his choosing – can help choose his own exit route from the Panthers. Now that he’s been on a Cup winner, Ekblad doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, but he’s still got a long road ahead in his NHL career, and the reality is the rest of his NHL days may not be spent with Florida.

Panthers’ Cold Seat: Bill Zito, GM

In the zero-sum industry that is the NHL GM business, when you win a Cup, you earn yourself many years of job security. Championships provide employment insurance, and that’s what Zito has now in Florida. Since he took over the Panthers in September of 2020, Zito has methodically remade Florida’s roster into one of the best-balanced groups on the planet. And it is a measure of his achievement that, even after losing veterans Brandon Montour, Anthony Stolarz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nick Cousins in free agency this summer, the Panthers remain a favorite to once again win the Atlantic Division and be one of the odds-on favorites to win another Cup.

But let’s say Florida doesn’t win it all again in 2024-25. Do you think there’s a circumstance in which Zito moves on? We sure don’t. Zito may one day hire a GM to serve under him, becoming the C.E.O. of the organization, as that’s what has happened with many others in his particular situation. But that’s still very unlikely to take place anytime soon.

Zito has carved out a highly-secure spot for himself, in a market where there’s very little media and fan pressure, so he’s about as cemented into his role as any GM in the league. Of course, anything can happen under the sun, but Zito can go about his business knowing he’s an integral part of the championship picture in Florida.