Florida Panthers Insider Podcast — Episode 2: GM Bill Zito Joins the Show!

Florida Panthers Insider Podcast — Episode 2: GM Bill Zito Joins the Show!

All right, guys. We have an incredible show for you today. General manager of the Florida Panthers, Bill Zto, is going to be on the program a little bit later today. Plus, fights among the Tampa Bay Lightnings and the Florida Panthers. A banner raising into the rafters. Rings and things and more coming up on the Florida Panthers Insider. [Music] [Music] All right, George. It’s another edition of the Florida Panthers Insider and we are here. We are ready. And man, a couple things have happened since last Thursday when we were together. Um, let’s get into it. Just starting with Monday night, the Florida Panthers uh get their back-to back Stanley Cup champion rings. And they are, I would say, beautiful. Right. Here’s the little uh here’s the little thing they showed us uh with those about the rings. Uh tell us what was it like being there that night, George, and seeing uh the rings be presented to the players. Well, first off, they’re spectacular, right? And hi, Josh. How are you, buddy? Um yeah, I mean, just an unbelievable job um by the the Viola family uh who designed these. And um you know, Bill Zitto’s joining us here in a minute, but you know, last year he he said it, you know, he goes, I’m I’m a Christmas Day guy, not a Christmas Eve guy. So, he didn’t want to see the ring last year. Um, and he said, “I was glad I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad I was s surprised to see the ring when it when it was actually unveiled.” Uh, same thing this year. Bill decided he didn’t want to see the ring until he saw the ring. Um, until he could put it on his finger. And man, that thing is just massive. Um, just a beautiful ring. Uh, you know, a fitting end to to to the what the Panthers accomplished. Um just a real nice deal. And again, War Memorial Auditorium, very similar to last year’s. You see the trophies um you know that that that were there. It it was it was a very nice event. Very low-key event. Kind of like how the Panthers have been handling things these last few years. Almost business-like. They celebrated a little bit. They got their pictures. They were in, they were out. It was not a big long thing. Yeah. They’re so cool. But of course, everybody’s talking about that inscription on the box and on the inside of the ring, uh, about apologizing to no one. Uh, what did you get out of that? Yeah. What did you think of that? Well, we’re This is a family podcast, so we’re not going to talk about, you know, the real quote. I mean, it’s definitely a cleaned up version of the quote. Um, yeah, on the video they said it was the Panthers rallying cry, but none of us ever heard it until the end. So, I don’t know what they were rallying around at the parade, but um no, you know, listen, they had a lot of fun. I mean, they had a ton of fun last year. This is a team that enjoys each other, enjoys each other’s company. Um they love that kind of thing. It it it it’s it’s an inside joke that we all know about. So, yeah, why not? And it’s something that, you know, 25 years from now when these guys open up that box or they’re at a dinner, they go to a wedding and they slip on that ring, they’ll laugh about that quote that’s inside that, you know, they can’t miss. Now, it’s not on the front of the ring, so you can nobody will see it but them, you know, and and then that’s what it is. It’s for them. As the uh Panthers were getting their rings handed to them, we take another look at the ring here. Uh, someone else was getting handed there was another team getting handed suspensions. Uh, so talk a little bit about just the craziness with the Tampa Bay Lightning in those final two preseason games. Yeah. So, so we did our show last week on Wednesday, Florida Panthers visit Tampa on Friday. On Thursday, 186 penalty minutes um for the for the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning up at uh whatever they’re calling it now, the the ice ple the ice forum, whatever. I don’t know what it is in Tampa. Um, and you know, hey, you know, there was a lot of heated moments. AJ Greer goes after Brand and Brandon Hegel. Uh, we know the history between Hegel and Eblad. We know the history between the Panthers and the Lightning. And um, you know, so Friday we’re talking to Paul Maurice. Do you what do you think’s going to happen to you know Saturday when Tampa comes to Sunrise? He’s like, you know what? Usually the history of these things, unless someone gets blown up in the third, you know, it should just be a regular quiet game and uh it was not the Tampa Bay Lightning bring up six minor leaguers from Syracuse. Um and it was like slapshot, right? I mean, it was slapshot all over again. Two minutes into the game, Aaron Ecklad gets run. Um one match penalty, then nothing but, you know, it was just it was a mess. It was a threehour slog of a pre-season hockey game. It didn’t mean anything to anybody. Uh what did we end up with? 322 minutes of penalties. Insane. Yeah. 16 ejections. It was the longest exhibition game. It and and you know, they’re trying to look at the video after every fight to see who should just just toss everybody. Let’s just go. You know, you saw the picture. six six Lightning players in the box and they had more, you know, more coaches on the bench than players at one point. Um, turns out while we were at the ring ceremony, like you brought it up Monday night, Tampa Bay Lightning, the organization fined $100,000 because of how they did this. Uh, they didn’t tell the Panthers who was going to be on the roster. Like, we didn’t, you know, usually we get the game roster at about 11:00, 12:00. We didn’t get it till six o’clock for a seven o’clock start. So I, you know, I I forget who I asked. I think it might I asked Lucer Rain and I was like, “When you saw that they brought up six guys from the minor leagues,” he goes, “Yeah, we thought something was coming and something did come.” So anyway, Lightning get 100 grand fine for their, you know, for setting this up. John Cooper, coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who I think would be a friend of this program. We’re going to try and get Coop on here. He got uh he got nailed for 25 grand. So, and four four Lightning players, two got suspended uh one for four, one for two, and then two guys got fined um out of that mess. And uh yeah, it was a long night in Sunrise Saturday. Yeah, definitely a long game. Rodriguez apologizing to the fans for for keeping them there so long. And he he wanted to leave the game. He got a hat-tick and he wanted to leave. So, Right. tell tells you something about that game. Well, the rivalry is definitely uh uh going strong. Alive and well. Yeah. The good news is that that rivalry as far as last season uh is over because the Panthers on Tuesday at 5:00 pm raised their Stanley Cup champion banner after defeating that Lightning team the previous playoffs. Uh talk about uh your experience uh Tuesday night. Uh just the atmosphere. I know Bill’s gonna probably talk a little bit about what that meant to him as well, but incredible night. Yeah. Um, yeah, I I thought it was great. I mean, a lot of, you know, a lot of complaints about the five o’clock start, and I get that there were a lot, you know, there were people that could not get out of work early or take the day off. I I I get that. That sucks. Um, but it was a good crowd. Um, the the place was full. Uh there were there was there were some seats empty and that’s just that’s that’s you know that’s that’s life of Tuesday night five o’clock start that’s going to happen. Um but it probably would have happened for a 7:00 start too. You know traffic life happens right but the atmosphere was terrific. Panthers did a really nice job, the new scoreboard with the graph, you know, with the videos and all the fun stuff. And um and then Aaron Glad brings the Stanley Cup out of the tunnel. Um and he said after the game, he goes, “I was just taking Barky’s place, Sasha Barkoff, who was there Monday night on crutches, goes up, you know, he’s got still got that long brace we talked about. They took a team picture on Monday night with Barkov and Kachchuck holding, you know, holding the cup with Eblad right there. Um, but Eblad brings out the cup to replace Barkov. Um, and then the banner goes up, the pan, the players all line up on the blue line, interlock the arms, gaze up at it. Isn’t that great? And new season starts. It was quick and plainless. I was talking to the Chicago Blackhawk people. Uh I believe it was Wednesday. Yeah. No, Monday. Monday. Um and they were like, “Yeah, uh we’re not, you know, the you know, the Blackhawks hope it’s not a 30 minute thing.” And I was like, “Dude, it’s going to be like five minutes.” I mean, they the Panthers I they didn’t even do like team introductions. They did, you know, like a normal opening night. Um they went right to it. Banners up. Let’s go. And that was that. And very business-like. Florida Panthers looking to not forget about last year because nobody wants to forget, but you do need to move on and you do need to get going. Uh they end up beating Spencer Knight and the Blackhawks 3-2. They are 1 and 0 and uh it should have been 8 82. Spencer Knight was terrific and if last night was any indication or Tuesday night was any indication, it’s gonna be a long season for the Blackhawks. Yeah. I mean, Spencer Knight was so good that fans were cheering his name before the game even started. Okay. So, okay. I told we told Spencer, “Hey, these, you know, there’s a couple people that still do it.” And he was like, “Oh, that’s funny.” So, last night I had no I have no problem with it. But now it probably needs to go away. Although we know that there’s going to be four, five, six, seven people that do it out of spite now. Now, some people may not even know what the night means. They just think that’s what you do and they’re going to do it. Uh but most people now are just doing it just to just, you know, tick everybody under to get under your skin. Yeah, it does. It gets under my skin a little bit. Um but, you know, it’s one of those things. Uh I think uh that whole game was great because we got to see a new look for the Panthers. What does the Panther uh team look like without Sasha Barkov, without uh Matthew Kachchuck? Um and it looked good, better than maybe you could have even hoped for. They they definitely had the speed. That top line looked excellent. Uh defense looked like they were getting ready back into form. And so I think it was a pretty exciting night for Panther fans all over the place. Yeah. And again, Spence Spencer Knight was terrific. Uh Carter Verhagy gets a power play goal. Sam Reinhardt had a ton of chances. Anton Lindell had a ton of chances. Um, but it was the third and fourth line that I thought that really shined. Um, you had Mackie Samoskevich a couple assists. You had goals from AJ Greer. Yeah. Who had that and and then the in the in the bingo pile or whatever the bingo card. AJ Greer with the first goal of the season. Um, then you had Carter Bhggy and yes Boquist bunts one in uh to to win it three to two. But yeah, that listen, the Panthers are fine. This is a deep team and um it’s going to be a challenge to to to play and we’re going to talk to Bill about that here in a moment, but you know, they’re pretty deep. Well, you brought it up and and I have to say we know what the people want, right? They don’t want this opening act. Everybody wants they want the general manager of the Panthers. So, let’s see on the line. Let’s do it. [Music] All right. Well, guys, we’re so excited to welcome in Florida Panthers general manager, twotime Stanley Cup champion, Bill Zto. Welcome to the program, Bill. Thank you, Josh. Uh, glad to be here. Thanks for having me, George. Bill, the f a friend of the program. You were on our last episode back in 2020, the day you were announced as the general manager. Dude, a lot’s changed, huh? In those five years. Don’t get your feelings hurt that I don’t remember. No, of course. No. Well, you were a busy man back then. You had a lot going on. I don’t I have no recollection. Yeah. You you said that you were going to have a lot of, you know, some sleepless nights were ahead of you. Um, what has this five-year run been for you personally? I mean, just I mean, from where you started during COVID and all that and having to introduce yourself to players over Zoom like we’re doing here to to the to the family you’ve created here in South Florida. Well, a lot of it is a function of just becoming a GM for the first time. And then you throw in the COVID experience which I think ultimately um probably independent of the health issues but the social part of it served me well because it was baptism by fire with an uncharted territory and there was there was no script. So it it allowed me the opportunity just to sort of wing it um and make my mistakes and learn from them. Um, as we move forward, it see it seems looking back now that every year we learned something at the end of that season that was really directly uh substantively applicable to the next year. And so sometimes you learn things later in life, sometimes you learn things and you’re not sure what to do. At least for me, some of them were, you know, you can learn things and then, oh yeah, okay, now I know and I can implement. So that really helped helped me personally um you know our family adjusted to South Florida. Um and really have come to appreciate uh you know Broward County and all the just the life that we have. You can you can do anything any day. I mean it it’s it’s just such a wonderful place to live and something for everybody. So the single guys are loving life, right? go down, but like for families and it’s just uh I I’ve really grown to appreciate that. Um and then from a from a team building standpoint or from you know the GM not just learning the lessons and implemented implementing them that I alluded to before. um understanding after having lived through it. You someone could teach you something and you can intellectually understand it but until you live it maybe maybe you can’t have that elevated uh experience for so yeah I guess that’s it the experience for example of years one through four then help me in year five as as a as being distinct from just the information that you owe. So, I don’t know. It’s kind of a broad question, but it was a convoluted attempt to answer. Well, I’m I’m I’m big on the the broad questions. Another broad questions. You’ve lived in a lot of places. Milwaukee being Oh, yeah. How about that? The Brew Crew. Let’s go. Is this Is this Is South Florida starting to feel like home? A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. It took a few years, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know you’re a big fan of the Dolphins. you support all the other teams down here and your family loves it. And so we we um God bless my wife. She first thing she did when we when she got here was she bought season tickets and you know NFL Sunday is a part of our lives certainly mine and and and my wife and Julie’s. um and she wanted that for our son. And so we started going and then we started to, you know, just through sort of that pro pro sports social circles get to know the Dolphins guys and then we interact with them a lot and help each other and um got to re revisit a friendship with Chris from years ago and uh so we’re we’re fans like of all the sports teams. Um, and it’s a great place to be. It’s just awesome. Josh, did you have anything to ask? Yeah. Yeah, Bill, I wanted to know, you know, you guys have done a fantastic job uh finding players that other teams had given up on or or not, you know, made a priority for their organization and figuring out how they would fit into the Panthers. And uh we look around now at all these extensions that have been signed recently and we see that uh these are paying off these big uh swings that you guys have taken. More swings really than misses. So how do you identify what a Florida Panther player is and how they’re going to fit into the scheme? I forget the name of the Supreme Court justice who said, “I can’t um describe or I can’t label what pornography is, but I know what it is when I see it.” So, um how it was defined what it is. Um so there isn’t a blueprint there. There there isn’t a formula that says if this player has ABC D that’s somebody that we look at. A lot of it is situational. A lot of it you would call swings because from your perspective based on your bias and your agenda, your experience and what you’ve learned, you think it’s a swing. If I supplied you with my life experience and the information available to me and my and my team, not swing at all. So, I don’t know. Um, if you you you go to one of the communities left in the world that’s sort of uh is remote and lives off agriculture and doesn’t have plumbing and lives in a mountain somewhere and they saw two two little gel caps on the ground and the guy goes and eats them and he feels better like, “Wow, did you ever take a chance?” guy could turn around and say, “No, I dropped my ag.” So, so that’s it’s really really important for people to understand that um [Music] it’s not Las Vegas, right? I mean, it’s not a casino. Excuse me. Yeah. They have a hockey team. You’re not rolling rolling the dice. Yeah. Yeah. Now, now I’m gonna get zing for that one. No. No. We knew what you meant. You were not ripping the No, we’re not rolling the dice. We’re not taking chances. We’re not making bets. We’re not um we are Yes, you could characterize any and all decisions that we make. Yes, you are. It is a bet. Ultimately, you are uh managing risk when you make decisions, right? Just like everybody does every day. Um but for us, it’s a process that we identify our needs. we identify what traits, characteristics and qualities of people could fill the particular needs. And then once we identify those assets, um, a word I hate to use because we’re talking about people, but a potential asset that could fulfill that need. Then you get to the next layer. Uh, that’s that’s the human part, right? Do they have character? Are they good guys? Will they fit in our room? And you don’t all have to be good guys and you like you don’t have to have you don’t have to be a choir just can you fit with our culture and the culture it’s it I think the best way to describe it is trust trust between the players trust between the players and the coaches trust between the players and us trust between the players and ownership and then just draw all those lines right so when you have an environment where that exists you need to nurture it, right? So, when we bring people in, we have to be mindful and we have to protect. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job um of trying to do that. We’ll never be perfect, but uh we certainly try to protect that culture. Um because it’s just a little tiny prick in the balloon burst. And how special is it you the way you guys have things set up? Your 14th forward is just as engaged and in this as as say Sasha Barkov is. Your seventh eighth defenseman is just as in it as Aaron Bllad Gus Forsling. Um you know you don’t really see that there doesn’t seem to be a cast system within the Panthers. Now there is you know salary white and all that good stuff and in minutes and all you know but in that room I mean it’s just everybody’s the same. Everybody’s just zinging each other and having a great time. I mean, you’ve got to you got to love the way just just being around that bunch. And I think certainly we’re mindful of that as we move forward and make additions, but the genesis of that comes from those players. Yeah. Right. that that and you you guys both know when you start with a Sasha and you add a Matthew and then the Sams and then um all of the guys that’s how they are. So it was dumb luck. Maybe it was we just we we started with a core of and it probably starts with Sasha, right? You start with him and he pulls the best out of you. Not because he demands it, but because you don’t want to disappoint him because his character is so strong and so readily noticeable that that can’t really be around him and not try to be your best. So that translates and and we have the you know our stars really don’t have egos. They understand that no individual can do this that has to be a team. Um and and you use the word family. I do think that that exists in that room because their their concern for each other and sincere uh consideration and gracious towards one another like they want each other to do well. Nobody cares who scores. They don’t. No. Like there was one point someone had asked Matthew how many points he had. I don’t know. and he didn’t, right? And I know that through the season, I don’t know either. I It doesn’t matter. You watch every game, you know what guys are doing. Are they doing what they’re supposed to be? Okay. The points will come. I think Sam Bennett didn’t have a goal for how long last year, right? Right. So in the playoffs, I don’t know. Yeah, he’s pretty he was pretty good in the playoffs. Yeah. Right. If I’d have told you then he’s going to win the K smite, you’d say, “No way.” Right. right? It doesn’t m No one cares and it’s easy to say and it’s easy intellectually to say, “Okay, I’m going to but to actually do it, I I think uh I think that’s a blessing and uh yeah, it’s just a testament to those guys and seeing Sasha uh Monday night at the ring ceremony get up there with his guys with the cup, get his ring, all that last night with the banner, seeing him on the bench. um you know it’s tough to to see him you know because he means so much to everybody not just on the ice off you know u good to see him be a part of all of this and you know how just what what are the emotions like when when you mean you see something like that with with with Sasha and what he means and how much he cares and and all that. It’s hard to um and I know you guys will appreciate this. I think Keith Yandel said it best. Like when people would first come, he would just watch them and wait and witness them while they figure it out. Is this guy for real? Like they’d see it on the ice and like I knew he was good when I played against him, but I didn’t know he was this good. And then they’d see him in the room and the guys would just giggle and they’d say that that’s not real. um to see him, you know, it’s it’s easy to say that you’re I don’t know. Trying to pick the right words because I’m absolutely gushing about Sasha. Like, who doesn’t? I’m not Who doesn’t? It’s not even unprofessional as a gym. Yeah. No, at this point, it’s a gift and a blessing that we’re we’re able to have him around. Um, but I know I meant a lot to the guys to see him there, you know, doing it’s it he’s here every day doing rehab, but if you didn’t see us go on the ice, so let’s just say like you came to our rink today and you didn’t we didn’t go on the ice or you didn’t see it, you wouldn’t know he’s hurt. And I think that that kind of circles back and tells you it answers that earlier question about that collective camaraderie. and and the roles that people play in the Southwest. You you would have no idea like business as usual. Yeah. Uh we just we’re going to wrap this up. We appreciate the time. Bill Zitto, general manager of the Florida Panthers, friend of I get 10 minutes. That’s it. Hey, you said you’re busy, man. You got meetings. You got No, no, no. We’re going. But last night sponsors. We got sponsors. The infield the Enfield pub in Oak, you know, in Oakland Park Boulevard in Sunrise, Florida. We got three big questions coming up, but but last night I saw you with Emily Kaplan out on the concourse. People just streaming. What was that atmosphere like? To to be able to to soak that in and see just the excitement. I know it was five o’clock on a Tuesday, but um it it it seemed like a Saturday night down at the arena last night. It did. Yeah. And I know you guys know this too, but you know, coming here in 2020 and then seeing seeing just prior to me coming here, I was here scouting in the spring before they called out the season. There’s no one here and seeing the the enthusiasm and the ferocity of the fans and it’s it’s like every night and so many of those people stay with us like, “Yeah, we were we were improving. We made the playoffs and we got a little bit better but they you know ultimately we didn’t win the cup in three years but you never got the feeling that anyone bailed on you that it was always a fun encouraging interaction like last night it was like a playoff game fans were just all pumped up everyone’s going everyone and most importantly everyone was having a good time. It was kind of like you you almost there those days you wish that you could take off the suit and put a jersey on and couple beers and just go hang out and have fun as a fan. Yeah. But I think everybody really enjoyed themselves. And um I I have a I have I have a buddy uh Mark Levine from he works over at the Bass Pro. I go and buy stuff from tackle shop and he was there. Hey buddy. and it was nice to see him and just lots of fun like and that’s the thing right like we want to be the hardest working team in the league and we want to have the most fun so and so far yeah well the fans are doing their part I can tell you that yeah um and on that note now we we’ve you did the rings on Monday at the war memorial you had the banner last night you played the Blackhawks 3-2 win for the Florida Panthers um now we’re game two right now now can can every you know everybody was talking about turning the page and you guys were talking about that during training camp but there are going to be moments where we look back on 2025 like Paul had said when you know when when Nate Schmidt gets his ring it’ll be but and it’s a nice reminder but how do how do you guys just kind of turn that page and say okay Philly Thursday Ottawa Saturday you know is it that easy or is it something you just kind of have to roll into I think both but I I think what makes it easy is the fact that we had last year to learn from. Yeah. So, so last year was was harder to do and more awkward and this year it was okay. Well, now we know what to expect. We see and I think everybody can look individually. Did you let it get to you last year? How? When? Oh, could you could you hold that off? Could you do something to maybe keep it away from this year? And then I also think that um the way that we structure training camp is guys are hungry to play hockey and and it guys understand what it takes and the amount of work and the intensity work. So I think they’re ready to just move forward and um yeah it’s that’s it. We worrying about tomorrow night. Yeah. And we’re not any we’re not anything. That’s in the past. Right now, we’re one of 32 teams. We’re just trying our hardest. Yeah. And depth is obviously a big, you know, not not a concern. Uh, you know, my you know how my brain works. Um, you guys are, you know, have such good depth and it’s going to be shown this season, right, with Matthew Kachchuck is out uh that we, you know, Thomas Nok, obviously Sasha Barkov. How do you feel that the your forward group as it stands right now can handle this this this test moving forward? I think we have a luxury of riches. Um I I believe in our guys. Obviously when you lose those two um irreplaceable players, it’s going to be harder. But I also think that you know, our group can compete and will compete and I haven’t noticed a big change either like in that day-to-day culture, the way we approach games, the way we appro approach practice. So, um I think that other people are going to get opportunities and that they’re going to rise to the occasion. I think yeah, I mean, so far so good. Everybody looks good. I looked, you know, looking at your lineup last night, I was like this, okay, there’s no Barkov, there’s no Kachchuck, there’s no no sec, but man, that’s it’s pretty good lineup. Still pretty good lineup. Yeah. Like, you know, can they absorb it? Yeah, they can. Yeah. Right. Do do we need some breaks? 100%. Right. I think Yeah. So, our the biggest thing for us is going to be to maintain those qualities of play that got us to where we are. And if we do, we’ll be okay. And if we get away from it, that’s when we’re going to have to address it. All right, Josh, you got the three hot questions sponsored by the Infield Pub in Sunrise. What do you got, Josh? Well, the easy one is the first one off the bat, Bill. Uh, when you talk about going out, going to the uh sports bar, watching a game, you talked about wanting to be a fan in a jersey. What is your go-to wing order? Oh man, I am a mild guy. I like the buffalo traditional buffalo ranch, but a mild buffalo, but not not naked. Just a good a good buffalo sauce, but uh I have my limitations on how much spice I can absorb. You You dig the wings at the infield, man. They are awesome. I’m in. Primo top top the best in Brock. Are they cooked all the way? So they’re crispy? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they’re crispy. They are good. Okay, I I wouldn’t lie to you about Trust me. You’ve seen me. I like my wings. I’ve seen you. I know you know your way around a chicken. And ranch. Ranch over blue cheese. Bill. Ranch over blue cheese. Ranch over blue cheese. But I’m not going to poo poo. You put the blue cheese in front of me. I had no issues with Same way. I’m okay with it. Yep. Go ahead, Josh. Number two. All right. Number two. Favorite childhood sports memory. You’ve made a lot of childhood memories for some kids this last couple years. I I’m the uh I’m the charmed um I’m the charmed kid. Um let me think. Well, my dad’s college football roommate was Mike Ditka. So, so we were able, you know, like he was coaching the Dallas Cowboys. He was the tight end coach. So, we would go and then my dad, you know, he played at Pit. I was actually in high school and I went and saw Dan Marino play for Pit at Notre Dame Stadium. Had to be a freshman, I think. Maybe. Um, uh, I met Franco Harris, I remember, at the Hilton Hotel in Milwaukee because the Packers used to play, um, County Stadium. Yeah. At at at County Stadium, half their games. Um, and then scored the winning the two winning goals to win the state championship in Banams. I remember my first home run in little league. No, in senior league like 13 or 14 year old. Yeah. But you know that’s with a major league fence, right? We used to have the senior league something and you’re like, “Oh my god.” Yeah. Um but I was a bat boy for the Milwaukee Brewers, which is probably a whole podcast in itself. Yeah. Yeah. We’re we are going to have a we are going to actually Yeah, we’re gonna do that. We’re gonna do a whole show just talking about Bob Uker, talking about, you know, your, you know, your your Brewers in 82 and and and Robin Y and the whole bunch. But yeah, you can imagine what an unreal run. There were no rules. Like our security was Uncle Wall-E who was asleep at the front door on a folding chair pretty much the whole the whole day. And then like if we needed help as as you know picking up the bats during the game is about 10% of the job. Most of it is cleaning uh you know prepping, washing uniforms, shining shoes, cleaning dirt, taking out garbage, getting food. Back then it was getting cigarettes, making sure the beer was iced, um moving cars, right? Moving cars. Yeah, that was um but that experience for me was just surreal. Like you can’t you you can’t uh Yeah, we got to do a show on that one. No, we’re going to No, I can’t wait. I I I can’t wait to talk. If you’re if you’re a baseball fan from the 80s, it’s like Yeah. I mean, you you ran the gamut. I’ll give you Did I tell you the Reggie Jackson one? I haven’t heard the Reggie Jackson one. No. So, so you also have to help out like you know like so here for the Panthers uh we have a guy CJ who goes and helps um the visiting team as well right so it used to be down this down the the uh down the lines you’d have two kids basically in the bat boy uniform fielding the the foul ball right sitting on their little folding chair All right. In the folding chair and then one one guy would have to warm up and play catch with one of the outfield. So I’m in right field. Reggie Jackson comes out and the center fielder is playing catch with the left field. Oh boy. So he gets the ball. I get a ball right and I throw it to him and he’s not that far and he turns and he runs towards center field and he’s far. So he throws one and it’s a laser beam. I got it. I got it. I got it. So I can’t get there just like this. So I’m right launch it way over his head. The right field fans go bananas. So he goes and he picks it up. Laser lasers it back at me. So I do it again over his head. fans are they’re going nuts and I’m terrified. He thinks I’m doing this on purpose, right? So, he does it again and then one more time. So, he comes out for the next inning and I ran out there and I said, “Listen, I’m so sorry. I’m I’m trying my hardest. I can’t get it to you. Can you play catch with the center fielder?” He said, “No, you can do it. You threw it over my head, so you can certainly get it to me. We’re going to do this until you get it. And you’re going to get it and I’m here with you. Reggie. And this is Reggie Jackson. Like that’s Reggie. Reggie. Yeah. Reggie Bar. It It was I I I so so cool and and he did. And then by you know, I don’t know that sixth or seventh inning, I was playing catch. That’s awesome. It was so cool. And um I don’t know it’s good to hear a cool Reggie story where something something in the positive vein. He was so kind to us and always he and Carl Strinsky were like the best uh tippers. Yas was the best. Heard nothing but good things about Yas. Yeah. Uh no, I mean that’s one of like a thousand stories. A thousand. Yeah. So I can’t wait for that one. And that’s coming soon, folks. We got to do that. Definitely want to do that. Can’t wait. Bill, last of the three burning questions is is simply this. Um, what’s a book that’s had a lot of influence on you? A book maybe that you hand out to other people or recommend? Like what’s a book that’s that’s formed or shaped you in some way? There’s a book that I just reread and I’m starting to discount some of it called The Captain’s Class. And the author’s name escapes me in the moment, but he tried to define, in his words, dynasty teams. Now, I I read this book back when I was in Columbus, so it’s got nothing to do with us right now, although it kind of does. So, what what do great teams have in common? and he tried to objectively assess it and he went through and first he had to identify well what makes a great team. How do you make the cut to be part of this examination and he had I don’t know the however many decades of New York Yankees you know when Yogi Barrow was there and that then he had a Montreal Canadians group he had the Cuban women’s volleyball team who like they didn’t lose a game in five years or something like that. No idea. He had uh the the Bill Russell Celtics. He did not have the Chicago Bulls, which Huh. Um and he went through and he he made a cut as to what you had to he tried to objectively make a cut. Um there was the All Blacks, there was um a Scottish soccer team like from the 40s. Uh the Russian men’s national hockey team. Um you know, the Big Red Bear. And so then once he once he made his cut, he tried to uh examine all the dynamics between and among all the different teams to see where the parallels were, where the common threads were. And the the the strongest thread that he was able to uncover was the character of the captain and the fact that most of them were not superstars. There were a couple um most of them weren’t even um necessarily leaders when they got there. Some were, right? But he they had these characteristics of compete and of selflessness. That was the main thing was these people were servant leaders. uh Bill Russell um uh um Yogi Barra, right? That that they just people don’t understand how good Yogi Barra was. I mean, it’s extraordinary how good people just think of the cartoon and the quotes. My gosh, the characture of Yogi Barra. Yeah. He doesn’t care, right? He doesn’t care what you think. He’s Yogi. And that was so the premise of the book was this really servant leadership. Um, and so anyway, that’s one that I not sure that it necessarily changed me, although it did change maybe the way I look at things and help me help me kind of understand. So, I wrote it down. I want to check it out. Yeah, I tried to apply it to here, but like no, Sasha is a superstar. Yeah. But you want to talk about servant leadership and commitment to the team, check. Selfless. You want to talk about competitiveness, check. play ping pong against him. He’s the nicest guy in the world, but he’ll your throat. He’s gonna win. Um, so you you can you can you understand what I’m getting at. It’s a it’s a great read. Lots of fun. You learn tons about um maybe some sports or some things you didn’t know. There was a woman whose name escapes me was the captain of the of the Cuban national of the women’s volleyball team and they hadn’t lost like forever and they were losing and so she started like screaming names at the other team. this is in an era uh where you you didn’t do that particularly in women’s volleyball like ugly vile things and it totally rattled the other team like just threw completely threw them off and they’re like what’s going on and then Cuba came back and beat him. Someone asked her what she did. She said, “I’ll tell you what I did. I won.” And it uh so there there’s there’s so many little stories like that uh that truly um Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great book. Yeah. Awesome. No, that’s great. Lot of good stories in there and a lot of great stories here from Bill Zto. Uh thank you very much for joining us, taking some time out of your day. You’re swamped. I know. Game two on Thursday night, Florida Panthers versus the Philadelphia Flyers. Buck Emirate Bank Arena. And we’re off and running. One and0. Get your wings at Enfield. Enfield Sports Pub. The infield. Yeah, the infield pub. It’s infield. The infield inn. Okay. It’s the infield. The in place to be. Great place. Great place. Great food. Great. Do they have takeout? They do have takeout. You can call them. You can go in and hang out and they got specials during Florida Panther game. Get wings because you got to get the wings. Yeah, you got Yeah, the kids are going to love the wings. Yeah, they’re terrific. Fantastic. Right. So, anyway, thank you, Bill. We’ll see you at the rink. See you tomorrow. See you tomorrow. Thank you. Appreciate you. Wow, that was incredible, George. Uh I mean, just wow. Unbelievable. Uh so generous of Bill uh to give us his time. tell us some incredible stories. Uh give us some incredible wing and book recommendations and just Well, he didn’t give he didn’t know he didn’t give us good wing recommend. I mean, well, good wing uh situations, I suppose. Yeah, that mild ranch, no blue cheese. Yeah, right. No, I’m the same way with the ranch blue cheese thing. I I it depends who’s got, you know, cir the infield has great blue cheese, but I still like ranch because you get the but sometimes they give you the blue cheese by mistake when you ask for ranch and I’m not going to turn it back then. That’s a good opportunity for me to have the blue cheese. Well, uh what an incredible uh interview. Hopefully fans Yeah. No, listen. And that’s that’s what dude, I’m telling you, that’s what we deal with all the time with the Panthers. You go you go to you you’re just hanging around by you know and and Bill’s and we start he starts telling stories about all this stuff and you’re like I never heard that before. I never heard that about Reggie. You know he he’s never I I’ve never heard him tell that Reggie Jackson story. That’s a great one. Crazy. Um but yeah we are going to we are going to do that Florida Panther Milwaukee Brewer uh hybrid show. Yeah. I mean, I I you know, a lot of people out there don’t know that he was a bad boy for the 82 Milwaukee Brewers that went to the World Series. Uh, you know, a great great team and, uh, you know, uh, he was part of that and that kind of spurned on how he wanted to get into to to scouting and management and all that kind of stuff. So, um, you know, definitely those years with the Milwaukee Brewers uh, kind of shaped Bill Zto. So, yeah, we’ll talk about that. But he’s he’s he’s great to deal with and very uh very very grateful that he took the time to do that. Yeah. After him, too, at the Brewers uh in the playoffs right now. Um so, it’ll be fun to talk about that in the future. Well, let’s talk about what we have coming up on deck this week. Uh just a couple of games left uh for this NHL first week of the season. Why don’t you those up for us a little bit? We’ve got Thursday night. Thursday night. Thursday night, the Florida Panthers play the uh Philadelphia Flyers. It’s the season opener for the Fly Boys. Um 7 o’clock Amarant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Um we’re going to find out. Yeah, it’s going to maybe a new look Flyer team. Rick Tocket now taking over the Flyers after some success there in Vancouver. Um you know, so we’ll see what the Flyers have to bring. They they really have given the Panthers all they can handle the past couple years. They’ve got a good young team. Um you know, Tippet still Tippet is uh you know, really kind of coming into his own in Philadelphia. I think it’ll be interesting. Um I I think Denell Terasov makes his Florida Panther debut on Thursday. I haven’t gotten that confirmation from anybody, but it just seems that way. you play him against Philadelphia because Saturday Florida Panthers play host to the Ottawa Senators, an Atlantic Division rival, I guess team. Um, you know, and and a team that’s was a playoff team last year. So, I think you go with Terasov on Thursday, you go with Bar, you go back to Babarovski on Saturday, and then you roll, you’re on the road, and that’s that. Little bit of a brotherhood rivalry there with Matthew and Brady as well. The construct bowl is gonna be missing a piece. But yeah, speaking of that, um we uh watched a little bit of that NHL face off on Amazon last weekend. Really good. So if you haven’t got a chance to check that out, you like the Panthers, there’s a whole episode, the Rat Kings, that’s about Brad Marshant, Matthew Kachchuck, and the very first episode is all about the Four Nations face off. some really good stuff. Yeah, I haven’t I I I got this I got the screener from the NHL. They wanted they said, “Hey, do you want to watch this so you can write about it?” Uh, so they didn’t send me episodes one through five, but they did send me six. So, I was able to watch that about Brad Marshon and and Matthew Kachchuck and and just seeing all the stuff that Matthew Kachchuck went through that we kind of had we heard we, you know, we’re not behind the scenes for that kind of stuff. Um, but we had heard like, dude, this is a serious serious injury that he’s coming back from and, uh, so it worked out for, you know, it’s it’s good stuff. Yeah, really good. So, lots going on in Pantherland. Uh, lots going on this week. Uh, we’ll see lots of friends at the games, I’m sure. Um, but we’re going to go ahead and wrap up this episode. We think we gave you guys a pretty awesome meal uh, this podcast. This was not a snack, right? This was a This was a whole meal. Yeah, this is the whole shebang. Thank you guys for episode two. Yeah. So, thank you guys so much, Panther Nation. And uh George, uh I’ll see you next week. We’ll be back. Thank you, Josh. Appreciate you, man. Take care, everybody. We’ll see you next time. Go Cats. [Music] [Music]

South Florida hockey fans, this one’s a treat!

George Richards and Josh Luecht sit down with Panthers General Manager Bill Zito for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about building a contender—philosophy, culture, and the decision-making that shapes the roster—plus baseball, hot wings, and more.

We also break down the past week of Florida Panthers news, including Opening Night and the championship ring presentation!

Subscribe to the FHN YouTube Channel for all the latest Insider podcasts — or find it on Apple and Spotify.