The Athletic's yearly exercise saw GM Bill Zito and the rest of the Florida Panthers front office rank fourth in confidence rankings.
In a yearly exercise done by The Athletic, the Florida Panthers ranked fourth in the latest edition of front office confidence rankings.
"Each front office is graded in six categories: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency and vision," started Dom Luszcyszyn.
"This is the 11th annual version of this project, with this year’s edition seeing over 10,000 responses from fans grading their own favorite team and nearly 500 responses grading every team. The contrast between the two is always fascinating."
In last season's edition, the Panthers ranked first overall, coming off of back-to-back Stanley Cup victories and virtually bringing back the same roster that won the Championship in the 2024-25 season.
This time around, the view has changed just slightly. A season full of injuries, a missed playoff run, and uncertainty at certain positions have affected fans' viewpoints.
The three teams to rank ahead of the Panthers were the 2025-26 Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes, the up-and-coming Montreal Canadiens, and the Panthers' fierce rivals in the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Panthers were given an overall grade of A. The Panthers' fanbase seemed to be a bit more negative toward the franchise than the public was.
In roster building, both the public and the fanbase gave the Panthers an A grade. In cap management, the public gave the Panthers an A, while the fanbase felt an A- was more appropriate. The same applies to the team's vision.
The public gave the Panthers an A+ grade in trading, while the fans settled for an A. The public and the fans agreed that an A+ in free agency was the correct decision.
The one area the public was harsher on the Panthers than the fanbase was their drafting and development. The public gave the Panthers a C+ rating, while the fanbase felt a B- rating was more sufficient.
Overall, the public gave the Panthers an A grade, while the fanbase gave the Panthers an A-.
This time next year could be very different. If the Panthers' aging roster suffers more injuries and misses the playoffs again, confidence in the front office will likely drop drastically. But if they return to the playoffs and go on a run, they could likely find themselves back in first place.
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