Bill Zito: Florida Panthers GM Talks Free Agency, Draft, Stanley Cup Championship Parade and More

Bill Zito: Florida Panthers GM Talks Free Agency, Draft, Stanley Cup Championship Parade and More

first off I just want to say congratulations to Charlotte um they did a fell a little short at the end but they did a a yman’s job with in in some really difficult circumstances with injuries um you know they’re trying to develop players they’re trying to win games they’re trying to still grow hockey and uh from uh Jordy Caner the coach to Tara the president everybody was so wonderful to work with so really proud of that and and what they managed to do and um all of our staff and everybody involved was fantastic um we acquired Daniel Terasovv from Columbus was that yesterday two days ago yeah um so he’ll he’ll kind of solidify the back end of the goalending um he was drafted when I was there uh but it’s uh the goalending decisions come from the goalending department so it happened to be a little bit of a coincidence but he’s a great big guy with a lot of potential um and we really think that working with our people will be a great opportunity for him and that uh you know that it’s a it’s a bright future for him and that he can help us in obviously solidify our goalending but continue to grow so that’ll be fun um Justin Sordiff was a guy who really has been a great a great Panther he played one game but he’s he he’s been a Panther he’s worked he’s overcome injuries and uh uh he had an opportunity uh to get to get moved on to to potentially get some playing time and um uh I want to thank him for everything he’s done he’s a he’s a wonderful person and um we wish him nothing but the best uh thrilled about Sam Bennett um that’s a guy who when he came here if somebody would have told him you know what he might have believed it um but you know to to I remember in Tampa when he got here the first day and then reflecting back on when he’s lifting the K smite and that’s the guy that we talk about we talk about guys like that to our children you know if you believe in yourself if you do the work if you get back up when when you have those down times this kind of stuff that can happen so um really happy for him uh I loved his Instagram or whatever it was and uh uh I’m just really happy that’s a that’s a special a special person and uh and a panther through and through so we’re happy to keep him um today we started with our first pick um we took Mad’s uh I’ll try to pronounce it uh Cleo who’s actually Danish but plays in uh in Folinda in uh the Swedish league and he’s a uh kind of an underrated skills scoring touch guy who plays hard who’s got a lot of compete and a lot of speed so it’ll be an interesting guy sheay Bush is a power forward from Everett in the Western League um good size plays in the hard areas and you know there’s kind of a theme with some of these guys of of getting hard players um and hopefully having them prepared for coach Maurice when they get here um Shamar Moses is another big right shot winger from North Bay uh in the OHL uh Arvid Drot is a fast hardworking winger from your garden in Sweden um pretty sure that’s Horn’s team um and Brendan Dumpy is a giant defenseman who’s a a long-term guy building his two-way game he’s committed to Yukon and playing in uh Wanachi in the Western League and then finally Yor Midlac surprise surprise as a Russian goalie so I don’t know if Lou goes there in his free time or whatever but um yeah those are our picks today and we’re really happy about it because we’re able to add some players sometimes you know you don’t have those high picks but you’re still able to add quality players who all the guys think are quality people as well so that’s it’s really exciting and um yeah I guess I can open it up to questions i don’t think I left anything out
u Bill just to start on two specific guys in particular so first 50 um had a big year with this the the Danish national team got the get them both at UH20 back up with the main group
when you’re in the mid round does it kind of factor into you can draft a guy that’s going to be playing on internationally in those big tournaments and kind of cut his teeth in those big moments where maybe in the mid round you typically can’t find guys like that
um yes if you knew if you knew going in and that was a strategy and and I think I think sort of that’s trying to explain myself not very well i apologize
it was similar with Sandis
so so sometimes you have these opportunities and the fact that he’s Danish lets him get onto some bigger stages easier than other people now kind of think no matter what national excuse me nationality he was he’d probably be a national team guy but you’re right that those experiences really really help with the development and they’re also really helpful in scouting because the better competition you can see them play at the better they are and then other one on on midlap like you said I was going to ask another Russian goalender that gets three or five years maybe a better question for a little bit how much does this organization just kind of like the development path over here there all all three three guys you over there are playing well it seems like they get to marinate over there for quite a while
yeah I you know what it’s best available guy right so then you make your list and they could be from literally anywhere and then you just sort of take it as it comes um and you know we’ve had a lot of success obviously I think uh look we didn’t draft Bob but but Bob I think Bob is going to be very helpful for some of the young guys because that literally is your idol right so if you were a quarterback and you could play for the Dolphins there’s Damarine oh my god right so um I think it’s helpful and certainly uh we’ve been very very fortunate with with the skill level of those those players bill for you uh last year obviously you guys win you have parade and then right into July one this year having about a week in between that just a did you get a chance to actually enjoy yourself a little bit this year and then how much does does that extra time help with preparing for the draft and then hope what’s going to be coming up next week from a time perspective it’s so busy that I can’t if you asked me the difference between la last year and this year I’d have to think back it seems like the same and I think we had two days only um the parade for me was surreal because last year I thought was something that couldn’t be duplicated and now it’s like it’s duplicated there’s more people but it was that same level of enthusiasm for me i sensed it and it was just a beautiful sunny day and um I think the most special thing other than being with my family and friends was picking out in the crowd like making eye contact with people that you knew or that one fan you always run into and you know and and in the midst of these thousands of people you’re you’re seeing that person and and it put a big smile on my face and we we just laughed the whole day it was wonderful i I think every I don’t know i think everybody who went really enjoyed themselves and uh and felt a part of it what do you think of this setup for the draft kind of like the cos of a couple years ago
yeah so so selfishly um you know it it’s checks and balances you like being on the floor you like being able to walk over and talk to people you kind of like seeing what else is going on in case maybe I want to get in on it the flip side of that is you can sit at your table you can walk in and and have sort of fuller conversations with the group uh without you standing on the railing looking at my PC so
Bill’s on the phone
so Oh George is behind he’s tweeting it bill’s picking his nose um
so it it’s it’s both um and and there’s there’s wonderful parts of of both uh so I apologize i’ve got to turn off my ringer um but uh yeah I for me I either way I I honestly I see the the benefits of both and I’m happy to uh to go either way it’s fine
you didn’t have to fly to LA
yeah yeah that Well so for us that was a bigger deal so that we didn’t lose a day and and we don’t have any days so um that that in this instance was easier but I mean I would take this problem any time
made that swap with Chicago midway through the seventh round what was the kind of thought process behind wanting to take that opportunity
we we there were two players that we had identified that we thought we had a chance to get so we thought we could get an extra pick looking at this now you had enough tears in a row but obviously things happen so fast after the cup but what does it mean when you get the pro scouts and the amateur scouts and everyone kind of the same room together to kind of enjoy the moment obviously you’re working right now but at the same time I’m sure it was a good feeling in that room as you guys kind of also celebrate a little bit we we haven’t maybe tonight but but the room was all business and um I think it’s a unique characteristic of this group um our talk was solely focused on improving getting better what are our options why um some great arguments uh some great discourse back and forth but I I mean other than there’s the one-off stories and the interaction you spend a lot of inordinate number of hours over the last 24 together um our focus has been on for example free agents getting them for next year the year after two three years planning budgeting um and all of the whatifs that could come into um any of the models that we might come up with whether it’s financial physical health team um it’s a pretty thorough and sometimes very uh it’s a sometimes it’s very haphazard which kind of makes it a longer and a little more disorganized but um generally has generated uh really productive results
and looking at going back to Benny for a second you’ve said it before Paul said it before but you talk about the cultural value he brings and kind of how he’s been a part of building the culture here i know by now you hope that everyone in that room’s got a little bit of Sam Bennett in them but how much does just Benny being that guy help this team how do you put kind of put a value on the culture stuff that he does bring here for you guys he makes his teammates better but he is a consumate teammate so he I think people can go through life with a position within a group within a societal group whether a club a team a family and you can treat people well and be kind and everything without really even considering them you just that’s just what I do it’s how I do it and this is a guy who really does consider his teammates um yes his competitiveness is infectious in that you know maybe I’ll just label it that warrior spirit that he has or the way that he plays and shows up in the big games but there’s also a side of him is a just a a revered teammate and friend to that room and um yeah I’m really proud to be able to be part of something that he’s a part of bill speaking of culture one thing coach always mentions when players are called up from how tremendously prepared they are to step right in and you think about these draft picks whatever their journey may look like as they work their way towards becoming a Florida Panther how valuable is it that whatever level whatever step in their journey they’re getting consistent messaging they’re experiencing what the culture is like before they get to this level so that they can step right in it’s it’s invaluable and it’s really difficult because no matter what our system is you have to have the players that fit into that system and when we draft we typically will draft maybe the best available player um and there’s a learning curve and a process the guys who come here well we’ve already a lot of the guys who have come and have already been pros from other places we’ve seen them play they they’ve been around the National Hockey League a lot of that learning curve they’ve already absorbed and then they also know how to absorb it and they come in and and they for the most part I mean there’s a lot of pieces to their games that already fit and that’s why we got them but for a young guy coming in you’re learning how to be a pro you’re learning how to eat you’re learning how literally learning how to sleep all the things that go on the physical side then the then the team side then the pro side then the fatigue you’re learning the systems and sometimes they don’t have the same players we have and the coaches are trying to teach a system so that when they come up they can fit in but it’s it’s really really hard because it’s our system uh and it doesn’t necessarily work for anybody you have to have the right kinds of players so for the for Jordy and the staff to be able to do that it it’s a lot of patience it’s a lot of hard work and mostly it’s getting the players to believe in them which they’ve done and I and it’s reflected in how well they did this season
when it comes to Sam uh fifth or sixth guy you’ve given the two um how important is that to for you guys to to build this thing and keep everybody I know Barkov was the first and then it’s you know going down the road but to to Ben Sam talked about it today just this that we’re built together and that kind of thing that you don’t have to worry about
i I I I believe that um it’s fun to say right say nice things oh the guys they believe in each other and they want to be here but it’s true and I I think for those of you who are around the team a lot you can sense that um the eight years helps obviously um people talk about these players who stay and the guys who stay generally take discounts they they I you look at our roster and then ask what they could be making other places and it’s because they want to be part of it and they understand it’s not it’s not a financial decision to to take less it’s a f somebody asked me if I was negotiating not one i’m mediating because we’re spending it all we’re trying to get everybody happy and then if you guys want to be here we want to treat you as fairly as we can so that um we can stay and we can keep the team together because teams win period
and now that he’s signed I mean that was all from what we assumed was priority one getting that deal done so the other slots could be filled in i you know um I don’t really want to I it got done first but I I would say that we’ve been discussing all of them and but everything is so inter it’s so intertwined and when you when you spend to the cap um and you do it for as many years as we have and commit to as many guys as we have uh the wiggle room on little things is really really difficult and so sometimes you just have to keep keep at it so that you can fit everybody and and keep the team in the corpus of the team together any other questions
well you said after after the cup win that you thought you could sign the three and Benny obviously
do you still feel that way today
yeah I I I have an idea if if if what I think isn’t accurate and it might not be um okay you know we have a plan B and a plan C and uh but my preference and maybe I’m hoping um is that is that there’s enough for guys to want to stay to be part of this and be treated fairly and be happy and that’s the most important thing do you feel like you’re getting that vibe in back and forth
i I don’t really
know i I I don’t know to to to comment on it and I don’t know if it would be accurate so sorry on the idea of happiness benny talked about it a lot in his interview today but just we heard from the other guys too but just how great it is here i would never want to go anywhere else like they talk about how you take care of them and the ownership and their teammates and obviously the winning you took a couple years to build this team and kind of everything into what it is now is there a next step towards building that whether it’s the hospitality or everything it’s obviously the practice rank and everything but can you continue to grow that way as an organization into making this somehow even more attractive than it already is yeah honestly I’d say we’re going to 50% so there’s so much and um every little thing every little thing matters and it’s that attention to detail to try to make sure that we’re going to screw things up we’re going to do things wrong um we’re going to make selfish mistakes we’re going to make innocent mistakes um but the hockey focus every day is win and so long as we keep that focus we’ll be okay and then don’t get comfortable so don’t like you said right oh what else can you do there’s so much more we can do and if there’s nothing else if you think there’s nothing else you can do just ask someone else someone will come up with something that can be better and if we keep trying to do that I think we can keep improving um we can keep trying to help the players help themselves be better and that happiness thing it’s of course people will be sad in the course of life right but we just want to make sure that there’s not artificial an artificial friction put on life um for no reason when when you’re here you have to work hard and we demand an awful lot of Panthers the league demands an awful lot of these men right think about the schedule now with the Olympics the it’s so hard and I mean hard relative right um but it’s a grind and it and it it’s emotionally draining and um physically draining but there is a I think a respect for the game that our our group has and in tandem with respect for each other that they’re able to pull the fun out of it wherever it is and uh we’re we’re really lucky we’re really blessed that we have good people who care about each other who love hockey and who want to

Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito meets the media to talk about signing Sam Bennett, NHL free agency, the draft, the Stanley Cup parade, and more on Saturday, June 28, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale.

The Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday; it was the second straight year the Panthers beat the Oilers for the Cup.

Bennett won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs after scoring 15 goals in the postseason — including an NHL-record 13 on the road.

The Panthers held their Stanley Cup championship parade last Sunday.

The Panthers Have Done It Again, Repeat as Cup Champs: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-repeat-stanley-cup-champions-2025/

How Brad Marchand Joined the Florida Panthers: https://floridahockeynow.com/brad-marchand-joins-florida-panthers-how-it-happened-nhl-trade-bruins/

2024 Stanley Cup Champions Honored at the White House: https://floridahockeynow.com/stanley-cup-champion-florida-panthers-honored-at-white-house/

Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning Bringing Hockey Outdoors – In Florida: https://floridahockeynow.com/nhl-outdoor-hockey-miami-tampa-florida-panthers-lightning/

The Florida Panthers Get Their Rings. They’re Spectacular: https://floridahockeynow.com/florida-panthers-get-stanley-cup-championship-rings-theyre-spectacular/

The Florida Panthers Are Stanley Cup Champions: https://floridahockeynow.com/can-you-believe-it-florida-panthers-are-stanley-cup-champs/

Tuesday, the Panthers led 2-0 in the first off goals from Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk.

Reinhart made it 3-0 with his second of the game before he got his hat trick — and then a fourth goal.

Sam Bennett won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

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Video Courtesy Florida Panthers / Panther Vision