The Florida Panthers could get into any school they wanted with this GPA.
With the dust having settled a bit following a busy opening week of free agency across the NHL, major media outlets have recently begun to hand out their annual report cards for each team.
To no one’s surprise, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions made the Dean’s List.
From both ESPN and The Athletic, they received A+ grades.
“The Panthers' depth has been a weapon over long postseason runs and Florida is well-positioned again thanks to Zito's savvy business moves to be elite again over the next 12 months,” the reporting duo of Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton of ESPN wrote. “Honestly, he couldn't have done much more to give Florida a chance to create a true dynasty.”
In addition to inking key players like Sam Bennett (eight years), Aaron Ekblad (eight years), Brad Marchand (six years) and Tomas Nosek (one year) to extensions, Panthers general manager and president of hockey operations Bill Zito also brought in several new pieces.
With 2025 champs Vitek Vanecek and Nate Schmidt both joining the Utah Mammoth, the Panthers signed goaltender Daniil Tarasov and defenseman Jeff Petry to one-year deals.
Fortifying the pipeline between the NHL and AHL, they also inked goaltender Brandon Bussi and forwards MacKenize Entwistle, Nolan Foote and Jack Studnicka to two-way contracts.
The Panthers not only successfully kept three of their top players in South Florida, but they also kept them out of the hands of the many teams trying to dethrone them as the top squad in the NHL.
“How can you possibly criticize bringing back one of the most dominant teams in NHL history?” reporter James Mirtle of The Athletic wrote. “No one thought when GM Bill Zito said he would be able to bring his big three UFAs back that it was possible, but he pulled it off in dramatic fashion in signing Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand.”
With two Cups already in hand, these new deals have the Panthers poised for more.
As it stands now, they have 10 players currently signed through at least the 2029-30 season, a group of big talents that includes Ekblad (32-33) Bennett (32-33), Marchand (30-31), Aleksander Barkov (29-30), Matthew Tkachuk (29-30), Sam Reinhart (31-32), Carter Verhaeghe (32-33), Anton Lundell (29-30), Seth Jones (29-30) and Gustav Forsling (31-32).
Just like a good group project, these A+ grades are shared by all.
“This was 100 percent those guys wanting to be part of something that they created,” Zito said of the team’s growing core. “We kind of wax poetic about the team and the community that they’ve become, and I think this is a great example of what it means to them.”
