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Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito greets fans upon arrival at Miami International Airport on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in Miami, after returning from Milan following the Americans’ gold-medal victory over Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.<\/p>\n
Alie Skowronski<\/p>\n
askowronski@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Florida Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito was still in the midst of the euphoria on Sunday, yet he was already thinking ahead.<\/p>\n
Zito served as an assistant general manager for the United States men\u2019s hockey team that had just won gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 1980 with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win against<\/a> Canada in Milan. The team\u2019s celebration lasted well through the night until their early morning flight on Monday, an 11-plus-hour trek to Miami.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not lost on him what he just witnessed, what he helped create.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Wow, are we lucky,\u2019\u2019 Zito said Tuesday from the Panthers\u2019 practice complex at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale. \u201cSo that\u2019s really what you\u2019re filled with, and then really an appreciation, honestly \u2014 I\u2019m saying this sincerely \u2014 of what we have here, the similarities and how special our group [with the Panthers] is [with the United States team]. It\u2019s invigorating, exciting, humbling, and just have a lot of real joy and appreciation for the players and getting a little reward like that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not lost on him how quickly he has to turn the page to his day job.<\/p>\n The Panthers resume their season on Thursday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they have an uphill climb to try to get back into the Stanley Cup playoffs and have a chance to compete for a third consecutive championship.<\/p>\n \u201cSunday night, I was already like, \u2018How do we get guys back? What are we doing? What\u2019s happening?\u2019\u201d Zito said. \u201cYeah, we\u2019re ready to go. Of course, the coaching staff and the guys who weren\u2019t over there have been practicing, and guys are trickling back into town, but we\u2019re poised and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida has held three practices since Saturday but with what can be considered a relatively skeleton group.<\/p>\n That\u2019s to be expected when the Panthers sent a team-high 10 players to the Olympics \u2014 Matthew Tkachuk playing for the United States, three each on Canada (Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart) and Finland (Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola), Gustav Forsling for Sweden and two for Latvia (Uvis Balinskis and Sandis Vilmanis).<\/p>\n Vilmanis practiced on Tuesday. The rest most likely won\u2019t take the ice until the team\u2019s morning skate on Thursday but Zito and Panthers coach Paul Maurice both said they expect all 10 to be ready to go for the first game back of their 25-game sprint to finish the season.<\/p>\n And Florida needs it. The Panthers are eight points back of a wild card spot and need a strong showing early. The NHL trade deadline is at 3 p.m. March 6. How the Panthers fare in their five games before the deadline will tilt the direction in which the team goes in terms of trying to supplement the roster, staying pat or trading away players.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very important time,\u201d Zito said of the next week and a half. \u201cWe may have easy questions to answer at the end of it, we may have real difficult ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re prepared, I think, to handle whatever scenario we\u2019re dealt.\u201d<\/p>\n Zito knows this team is capable of performing better than it has.<\/p>\n But he also understands the circumstances they have dealt with.<\/p>\n The Panthers have been without captain and top-line center Aleksander Barkov all season. They haven\u2019t had fourth-line center Tomas Nosek for a game either. Tkachuk missed the first 47 games while recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia. Veteran defenseman Dmitry Kulikov played just two games before sustaining a shoulder injury and forward Jonah Gadjovich has been out since late October. Defenseman Seth Jones has been out since Jan. 2 due to a broken collarbone sustained by blocking a shot during the Winter Classic.<\/p>\n It has been one hit after another.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to consider what we might be if we are able to field the complete roster, a healthy roster,\u201d Zito said. \u201cJust see what we can be, what can be accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n Time is running out for that this season.<\/p>\n Thursday will be the start of the final push to see if there\u2019s any chance for that to be a reality.<\/p>\n This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 1:03 PM.<\/p>\n Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Zito arrives to loanDepot for his team\u2019s Winter Classic outdoor hockey game against the New York Rangers on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Miami, Fla. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n