George Richards, FHN Publisher
FORT LAUDERDALE — More than three hours after the NHL Trade Deadline ended, Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito walked in to a press conference room at the IcePlex to meet the media.
First thing he did was apologize for his appearance.
Just a few days before, Zito was in this same room with Seth Jones looking dapper in a blue sports coat and a light blue shirt unbuttoned at the collar.
Friday, however, Zito said the long week had taken its toll — and he traded his business fit for a team sweatsuit and t-shirt.
With the work Zito and his staff did in the past week, no one would have noticed if he sauntered in wearing flip flops and one of Matthew Tkachuk’s ratty practice shirts with the neck ripped out.
Actually, it would have been appropriate attire: Zito did some heavy lifting in making the Florida Panthers better before the trade deadline came and went.
“If we have this opportunity to get better and improve,” Zito said, “it is the decision that you make.”
Zito went down the line of the trades the Panthers pulled off over the past six days, starting with getting top defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks for Spencer Knight and a first-round draft pick.
He had some nice words for Knight after that aspect of the trade kind of got overlooked when Jones arrived for his first practice with the Panthers on Monday.
Then he got into his goalie additions in Vitek Vanecek and new No. 3 Kaapo Kahkanen.
Nico Sturm came over from San Jose to improve a fourth line which was doing just fine, but could use a little something more.
Then, the one that had the hockey world abuzz as the trade deadline came to a close: Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand coming to the Panthers for a conditional second-round pick.
“He is a fun guy,” Zito said. “The guy you see on the ice is the guy that he is. We’re really looking forward to adding him to our mix. I think he fits in.”
Said Boston GM Don Sweeney: That one goes back a long ways for me and cuts deeper than, really, any player that I’ve had the privilege of getting to know and watch thrive and become a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest Bruins ever.”
Marchand will not play for a bit, Zito saying he is week-to-week with an upper-body injury sustained on Saturday.
The Panthers do not expect Marchand to be with the Panthers today, although there is a chance he flies in this afternoon.
Regardless, he should be with his new team when they visit the Bruins on Tuesday.
Marchand, unless he returns to the Bruins as a free agent this summer, ends fourth all-time in games played with Boston (1,090); he is also fourth in goals (422) and assists (613), and third in the storied franchise’s history in scoring (1,040 points).
He spent 16 seasons with the Bruins, the ‘Little Ball of Hate’ helping Boston win the Stanley Cup in 2011.
The Bruins went to the Final in 2013 and 2019 as well.
Despite the animosity he and the Panthers have shared over the years — most notable the past two playoff series between the two — Marchand should fit right in with a team that fans around the NHL are starting to get a real distaste for.
“We think he still has some gas in the tank,’’ Zito said of the 36-year-old.
“He is a dynamic player; he’s a multi-faceted whether it’s his skill, his speed, his hockey sense, his will-to-win, his compete. … Really looking forward to adding him to our mix. I think he fits in.
“A player like this, when they come available, and you have that need and a fit with your group, you pursue it. We’re thrilled.”
At the end of the day, Zito was understandably wiped.
He had been on the phone with his peers all day, then had to wait a few hours before the Marchand trade went through the proper NHL channels.
But make no mistake, the Panthers are better for what they have done since last Saturday.
Once Zito placed Tkachuk on LTIR Sunday, thereby freeing up $8.7 million of cap space, the Panthers were in the game.
Florida addressed all of its slight needs — upgrade the defense with a top right-handed shot, add to their forward depth, get another motivated veteran — in just six days.
Now they move toward the playoffs and try and win it all again.
“We will see,” Zito said. “I said it a couple days ago: It’s not necessarily the additions and total value of your assets that determine who wins. It’s the team.
“We do think they’re character guys. We spend an awful lot of time making sure, as best we can, we know that these are people that are going to fit into that room because that’s everything.”