The former captain and two-time Stanley Cup champion exits South Florida marking a successful run as one of the NHL's most knowledgable and coveted development experts.
There is another major change coming to the Florida Panthers front office.
THN Florida has confirmed that longtime development executive and former team captain Bryan McCabe has parted ways with the franchise.
“Caber’s work within our hockey operations department was integral to our success, and we wish him nothing but the best in his next chapter,” said Panthers General Manager Bill Zito.
McCabe had been working to develop players in Florida’s pipeline since he was hired as a development coach in 2012 following his retirement as a player from the NHL.
In 2013 he was named Director of Player Development, and then four years later was promoted to Director of Player Personnel.
During his career, McCabe played three of his 15 NHL seasons for the Panthers, becoming the first defenseman in franchise history to be named team captain.
He racked up 104 points and 152 penalty minutes during his 199 games with Florida and played in his 1,000th NHL game while wearing a Panthers sweater.
“I spent 15 years with the Panthers, I made a lot of great relationships throughout the community and the organization, and I wish them nothing but the best moving forward,” McCabe told THN Florida. “South Florida is home to me, I raised my family there, and winning two Stanley Cups has been a dream come true. I loved my time there.”
Looking ahead, McCabe is expected to be highly coveted among teams looking to improve their development systems.
This summer the Panthers have already seen three members of their executive team depart the franchise, all heading to the New Jersey Devils.
First, the Devils hired former Florida assistant general manager and head of analytics Sunny Metha as their new general manager.
Then Metha turned around and hired Braden Birch, who served as Florida’s Director of Hockey Operations and Salary Cap Management, as his assistant general manager, and Leo Luongo, a key member of Florida’s Goaltending Excellence Department, as Jersey’s new Director of Goaltending.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see what the future has in store for McCabe.
Considering the success he found in Florida, it will be fun to see where he lands and what kind of impact he has during the next steps of his career.
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