George Richards, FHN Publisher
Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito had been in Las Vegas for the better part of a day but he certainly was not out checking out the sights and sounds of the strip.
On Wednesday, Zito made two substantial trades for the Panthers as they sent Frank Vatrano to the New York Rangers before acquiring Montreal defenseman Ben Chiarot.
All that wheeling and dealing did not leave much time for the blackjack table.
“I haven’t left my room,’’ Zito said Wednesday night. “Maybe I’ll go get some dinner, somewhere.”
For years, the Panthers have talked about tomorrow.
They have looked down the road at what things will look like in the future when their talented young players mature and develop.
The Panthers, they said, would be good. Really good. Some day.
Well, that day is here.
Creating the kind of team the Panthers have now does not come cheap — not financially or when it comes to assets.
When it came to Chiarot, the Canadiens were not going to let their left-handed defenseman go for a discount and the Panthers definitely paid retail.
In exchange for Chiarot, the Panthers gave up a first-round pick in 2023, a fourth-round pick this summer and highly-touted prospect Ty Smilanic.
What the Panthers got is a big, rugged defenseman — or, a piece they felt they needed to help this team win.
”My job is to help, in tandem with my staff who are working their tails off, build the best roster we possibly can for the Florida Panthers,’’ Zito told Florida Hockey Now.
“We’re not doing it blindly like drunken sailors without regard for the future of the franchise. We regard the value of those picks and they are considerable. We have regard for the efforts of the amateur staff. Everything is taken into consideration and balanced. … A lot goes into it. It’s not just ‘we’ll trade those future picks for today.’ Significant consideration is given and it’s not taken lightly.”
The Panthers are about as complete a team as one will find in the NHL.
They felt they had a weakness and went and addressed it with Wednesday’s trade.
Vatrano was also part of the Montreal deal.
Although Vatrano was traded to the New York Rangers earlier in the day, the cap space the Panthers certainly helped.
The fourth-round pick the Rangers sent to the Panthers is the one being traded.
“When we looked at areas we thought we could help our team in, we thought this particular player checked a lot of boxes for us,” Zito said.
“This is a guy who is a six-strength defenseman, is a left shot, in good shape. He has leadership qualities, has a physical element to his game. He is a guy who had that experience of going deep with Montreal. It wasn’t as simple as looking for a ‘type’ of player; it is who is the person.
“We did extensive research on his character, who he is as a person. His competitiveness, how he will fit with our team. It’s as much the indivual as it is what our team needs.”
Since arriving in South Florida, Zito has not been known to sit around and wait for things to fall into the Panthers’ lap.
He made his first trade — Mike Matheson to Pittsburgh for Patric Hornqvist — a few weeks into the job then made a number of key free agent acquisitions in Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony Duclair, Radko Gudas and Ryan Lomberg not long after that.
The Panthers’ roster has all but completely been turned over since Zito arrived with only the likes of Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad, Sergei Bobrovsky and MacKenzie Weegar remaining.
In fact, a total of six players who dressed for the Panthers during the 2019-20 season remain.
Florida is also without some of its prime future assets.
The Panthers gave up a 2023 first-round pick to the Canadiens because they did not have a 2022 pick to offer. That went to the Buffalo Sabres for Sam Reinhart last summer.
Florida also does not have a 2022 second-round pick because it was sent to Calgary as part of the Sam Bennett deal.
With the NHL Trade Deadline coming on Monday afternoon, Zito may not be done.
Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux is still available and pretty much controls where he wants to go.
If it’s Florida, the Panthers would have to do some maneuvering to make that work. He would look pretty nice on the left side of the top line with Barkov and Verhaeghe.
”We’re going to keep going here,” Zito said. “There are still a lot of good players who might be available. If we can make our team better, we will do it.”
What we know is the Panthers simply do not have a lot of high-end draft stock left to trade.
That should make the next couple of drafts pretty boring.
Which is just fine with the Panthers.
They are trying to win today — well, in June, to be more specific.
Florida’s days of pointing at draft picks and looking years down the road are over, at least for now.
The Panthers are here to win.
Right now.