Florida Panthers add nine players in Bill Zito’s first NHL draft

Bill Zito’s first draft as general manager of the Florida Panthers went much longer than anyone thought it would.

Not only did the second day of the draft take about two hours longer than it usually does, but Zito made a trade with Toronto to add an additional seventh round pick.

The entire draft was held online with the Panthers working from a makeshift ‘war room’ on the club level of the BB&T Center in Sunrise.

“We focused on the ‘best player available’ and it was an arduous task,” said Zito, who drafted a total of nine players in the two-day draft which was held virtually after it was originally scheduled to be held at Montreal’s Bell Center in June.