Zito has been nominated for GM of the Year twice during this three seasons with the Panthers
The architect of the revamping of the Florida Panthers into a Stanley Cup Contender will have to wait a bit longer for proper recognition for what he’s done for the franchise.
Not that he cares.
There is only one thing that matters to Bill Zito, and that’s winning the Stanley Cup.
Zito was a finalist for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year award, along with Don Sweeney from the Boston Bruins and Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars.
Nill would be announced as the winner during the first round of the 2023 NHL Draft at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday night.
Zito finished third in the voting, receiving four first place votes, six second place votes and eight third place votes
The Florida Panthers hired Zito to be the team’s next general manager in September of 2020.
Less than three years ago.
The work that Zito and the staff he put together during that time has been nothing short of spectacular.
Case in point, only three players remain on the roster from when Zito took over: Sasha Barkov, Aaron Ekblad and Sergei Bobrovsky.
That kind of turnover usually points to a franchise in the midst of a rebuild or reset or whatever you want to call it.
Not the Panthers.
Zito took over a team that squeaked into the 2019-20 COVID-shortened season’s bubble playoffs as a tenth-seed Qualifying Round participant.
His first moves were for culture-changing veterans Patric Hornqvist and Radko Gudas, while lesser celebrated signings of Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony Duclair and Ryan Lomberg would prove just as impactful to both the on-ice product and the off-ice transformation of the long-beleaguered franchise.
That season, following trade deadline additions of Brandon Montour and Sam Bennett, Florida finished with the fourth-best record in the league while building a strong, reliable foundation for success.
A year later, after adding Sam Reinhart (AND??) to the mix, they won the Presidents’ Trophy and advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.
It became clear, though, that if Florida was going to take the talent it had compiled and mold it into a successful postseason squad, one built to survive and thrive during the grueling and physically demanding Stanley Cup Playoffs, something needed to change.
The tough decision was made by Zito and his staff not to retain interim Head Coach Andrew Brunette, who led the team to the best record in the league, and instead hire someone who was perhaps better suited to prepare the team for the difficulties and different playing style that come during the playoffs.
Veteran head coach Paul Maurice was hired, with both coaches and executives understanding fully that there would likely be a period of transition as the team transformed from one style of playing to something completely different.
Despite an up-and-down season, Zito’s faith in Maurice never wavered, and was eventually rewarded when things began to click with the team as the year progressed.
We all know how that story ended.
Down go the historically good Boston Bruins, down go the high-octane Toronto Maple Leafs, down go the deep, battle-tested division champ Carolina Hurricanes.
In terms of progression, Florida has nearly reached the top of that staircase.
With Zito at the helm, Florida should remain on that trend and find continued success.
Only one step remains…winning the Stanley Cup.