The Florida Panthers continue to earn accolades both on and off the ice.
Earlier this week, The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn released findings from his annual survey that grades out the confidence level that fans have in each of the 32 front offices in the NHL.
In the poll, fans are asked to grade each front office in six categories to give an all-encompassing view: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency and vision.
“It’s not perfect and can often be driven by recency bias given the sometimes-irrational year-to-year movement,” Luszczyszyn wrote of his method. “But as a vibe check, it works as a way of showing how each team’s brain trust is perceived at this snapshot in time.”
To no one’s surprise, the back-to-back champs topped the list.
Fresh off defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season, the Panthers ranked for the second year in a row.
Florida received an overall A+ grade from the public and an A grade from its own fans.
“Bill Zito and his staff have firmly established themselves as the best of the business,” one fan wrote in a message accompanying their grades. “Their ability to build a hockey culture in South Florida is something that I thought impossible when I first started attending games in Sunrise. Eventually, the bill will come due — but for now, I’m enjoying the run of President’s Trophy, Cinderella run to the Finals, consecutive Cup wins, and bringing the band back for a few more cracks at more Stanley Cups and true dynasty status.”
Of the six categories, the only area the Panthers didn’t earn at least an A- grade in from either the public or their fans was in the area of drafting and developing, which makes sense on the surface since they’ve dealt away many high picks to forge their current era of dynastic domination.
On the road to building a two-time Stanley Cup champion, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Zito has traded away first and second round picks to acquire the likes of Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, Seth Jones and Matthew Tkachuk.
And while it might not count as “development” in terms of turning a prospect into a pro, the Panthers do deserve a lot more credit for “development” at the pro level as players like Reinhart, Bennett and many others have played their best hockey since arriving to Florida.
As for drafting, the Panthers have also nailed the only two first-round picks they’ve made in Zito’s tenure with the selections of forwards Anton Lundell (12th overall, 2020) and Mackie Samoskevich (24th overall, 2021), and also managed to find intriguing prospects in later rounds such as forward Jack Devine, a 2022 seventh-round pick that led the NCAA in scoring last year.
If you ask me, they certainly merit a higher grade for doing more with less in that area.
To view The Athletic’s entire front office confidence rankings, click HERE.
