Zito has had an extremely long and exhilarating week, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done

When the Florida Panthers hired Bill Zito as the team’s next general manager in September of 2020, there was one collective goal.

Win the Stanley Cup.

Well, they just did that. So now what?

With a first championship under his belt, Zito and his staff how have a new goal that is even more difficult to obtain than winning the Stanley Cup.

Building a dynasty.

Step one would be building a roster that would be considered as good as the one that just won the Stanley Cup, or perhaps an even better one.

Florida will enter free agency with several roster spots to fill.

There are 11 players who were key contributors to last season’s squad that are unrestricted free agents.

From the big names, like 57-goal scorer Sam Reinhart and high-end defenseman Brandon Montour, but the impact from players like Kevin Stenlund, Ryan Lomberg, Oliver-Ekman Larsson, Nick Cousins, Dmitry Kulikov…that’s the thing about Zito’s Florida teams.

Every move they have made has been well thought out and with a purpose.

First, they are all great character guys. It’s why the Panthers have built a locker room culture that has a reputation around the league as one of the best to be a part of.

Zito also finds players who fit what Florida does. Stenlund was brought in to help the penalty kill and did just that. Niko Mikkola was a perfect fit on Florida’s back line. Deadline additions Vladimir Tarasenko and Kyle Okposo, both also unrestricted free agents, fit like a glove upon arrival in Pantherland.

The point is that Zito and his staff have an amazing feel for what this team needs to succeed, and that process will play itself out over the coming days and weeks.

Zito spoke at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Friday about an hour before the start of the NHL Draft and addressed the whirlwind that is to come.

On managing the NHL Draft and free agency: “I made a joke to someone that I felt like a wedding planner, where you're just trying to make sure whatever it is that happens next is as good as it can be for the players, so they can really enjoy it, and putting out fires that you hadn't anticipated even existed.”

On preparing for the offseason amid a Stanley Cup run: “All through the playoffs you work. It was probably less efficient working there the deeper we went, but we had prepared, and we had the luxury of last years’ experience. Knowing, listen, we’re gonna have to stay on this, at least on the pro side, and so that part, a lot of that work had been done in advance.”

On Sam Reinhart: “I won’t say anything other than we really hope to have him back. We’re trying to keep as many of the guys as we possibly can. I’m optimistic, and we’ll see.”

On potentially keeping Reinhart and Brandon Montour: “At the risk of being coy, there's a way. But I also am appreciative of the fact that guys do well and guys deserve to get paid and guys deserve bigger and better opportunities. So we respect it, and hopefully we're a place that if you're the person who comes and you move on because you’re getting paid too much, or you have a better (offer), that maybe someone else will want to come too.”

On the fluidity of the process: “Maybe maybe there's missed opportunities, I don't know. You can make fun of me later…like, when you go fishing, I'm going to go fish over here. There's a lot of boats, but I don't know (if there will be fish). But for the most part, we planned it out in advance, and we'll do our thing, and what happens, happens. We have a real solid core, I think, and I'm hopeful we can keep as many guys as want to be there and keep going.”

On handing out new deals and free agents testing the market: “We’re going to spend to the cap. I’m going to spend it all. If you want this (much) and we don’t have it, I can’t manufacture it. It’s frustrating, it’s harder, perhaps, but there’s really nothing you can do.”

On if he’s had time to celebrate winning the Stanley Cup: “That first night was surreal. I can’t express how much better it was than I ever could’ve imagine. And the last few days have kind of been a pain in the (ass). It’s just hard. I mean, it’s not hard, right? There are people working every single day way harder, but it’s challenging, that’s for sure. Trying to be the wedding planner and make sure that the guys have the Cup things and they’re ok, and then handle the free agency and prepare for the draft.”

On if he’s seen the Panthers players celebrating across South Florida all week: To be honest, this is how busy we've been. I haven't had a chance to even go through just a regular Twitter and find out what's going on in the world. I was fortunate as an agent to have experienced it 20 times through my clients, so I sort of knew, I was able to anticipate what was going to happen with the guys. It's really fun, and it's neat to see the cup in these in these new environments, and the power that it has, where South Florida and Broward County, people are losing the marbles, right? Because the first time they've seen it, and it's so beautiful and majestic. And it has that energy. It's just a hunk of silver, but somehow it isn't. And that's really been fun. That's really been neat. We had a coach's dinner for a couple hours, I think the players napped, and we were on the intercoastal and boats drove by, and all of a sudden, they knew (we were there) and they're circling back and they're on the radio, and all sudden, now it’s like a boat parade coming. In the moment, it was really neat. It was a special thing.”

On Broward County embracing the Panthers: “I think Broward County is such a special place, and I've only been here four years, but I know that it's a place that you can live in and very quickly call it home, and very quickly develop a pride like, yeah, this is a place, and we're from here, and It's awesome. And then the support from the fans. So yeah, I'd say that the feeling certainly around this is that we're all in, and the community has a little bit of ownership in it.”

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