George Richards, FHN Publisher
In his first few weeks on the job, new Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito was too busy to start looking for a house in South Florida.
With a lot of the heavy lifting out of the way, team president Matt Caldwell says he told Zito to call a realtor.
“In my view, Bill has just done a tremendous job,’’ Caldwell said Monday evening.
“He really hit the ground running. This afternoon, I told him to go and look for a damn house already. He has been working nonstop”
There is still work to be done on the Panthers’ roster — as well as try to get defenseman MacKenzie Weegar signed to a deal in advance of his arbitration hearing — before the upcoming season starts.
But with the NHL somewhat optimistically looking at a Jan. 1 start for what will be a 2021 season, much has already been done.
Caldwell, who called Zito with the news that he would be the new GM of the Panthers back on Sept. 1, says he likes what he has seen so far.
Here is what Zito and the Panthers have done to date:
Florida has added seven players either through trade or free agency.
Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour were traded to Pittsburgh while free agents Evgenii Dadonov, Mark Pysyk, Dryden Hunt and Lucas Wallmark have left via free agency.
Erik Haula and Mike Hoffman remain on the market but appear unlikely to return.
According to Puckpedia.com, Florida is about $10 million under the cap although that does not account for whatever it will take to sign Weegar (either to a moderate extension or what he will be awarded by an arbiter), Henrik Borgstrom and Aleksi Saarela.
“With this upcoming season, we told Bill that we do not care if he plays to the cap or to the floor,’’ Caldwell said.
“We just want to do what’s best for the team long-term and we are very confident he is putting in a long-term process and structure to win.”
Below are a few updates from Caldwell on the state of the Panthers during this pandemic — both on and off the ice — including what the new name of the Sunrise arena may be after yet another bank merger.
Your initial thoughts on the roster moves by GM Bill Zito so far?
Yeah, we had trades and signings … it kept the fan base excited because it was like we were making moves every single day.
I think we kind of reshaped the team already. We have seven new players. I saw your article on projecting the lineup and, yeah, there were no big game-changers, per se, but I think we made real culture changes. We really needed to get the mentality right here. No one can argue about our talent; everyone knows we have that.
When I went through the interview process, everyone said the same thing: You got a ton of great pieces, but something just isn’t mixing. No one could exactly define what it was.
Do you think this team is closer than perhaps others do?
Two years ago we had that strong second half of the season, right? We really thought we were going to take that next step, got Mike Hoffman, added some pieces. Then we didn’t. So, we went and got Joel and Bob, added a few other guys.
There were streaks last season where we felt the team was coming together, I really felt we were going to take that next step. But it just always felt like we’re this bubble team that can’t get over the hump. After the Islanders series it just was apparent that we’re just not built correctly.
So, I like what (Zito has) done so far and brought in some good veterans and tough competitive guys. I know some of them are a little older, but we needed some real competitive guys to kind of help the young core.
Hornqvist kind of led the charge there, he was the first trade to be made and then we got a real, steady defenseman in Nutivaara. Then we signed the guys on the first day. And Radko Gudas is tough.
Looking at the moves made, you all are taking some gambles on players getting a real opportunity, fresh start, etc. Hoping to find some real value in some of these signings?
Look at Wennberg. We drafted Lundell, also have Borgstrom. Those are two potential fits at center on the second and third lines. So with Wennberg, let’s give him a shot.
It’s going to be a weird year anyway, so lets give Wennberg the chance at a pretty decent number. If he hits, that’s great, it gives us even more competition at center. He also plays wing so if he stays with us, you can still bring in the other guys and be fine.
Then you look at Hinostroza, Lomberg and Verhaeghe, guys who played a lot of bottom-six minutes but showed a lot of promise. We feel those guys can fortify the bottom-six, come here on shorter deals with something to prove.
Again, not game-breaking, but that can immediately impact the culture.
And, on defense, we made some changes. It is no secret that we have had trouble on defense. We moved on from Matheson, it wasn’t going to work here, and brought in two guys who are more traditional stay-at-home guys.
Listen, we were in on a lot of stuff. We got seven deals done between the two trades and the five signings, but we have been in on everything. it is just hard to get trades done, hard to make signings because there is a lot of competition. But I am happy with what we accomplished.
We’re doing it in baby-step fashion. I think in the past, we were trying to win on July 1 by getting this guy and that guy. Now, it’s like let’s build a culture long-term, let’s bring in some key position players which will help us be competitive as we build around Barky, Huby, Ekblad and Bobrovsky.
We have two top-notch forwards, a top-notch D and a top goalie. Building around those four pieces and we can be pretty good.
Bill Zito has a plan for the future, one that worked in Columbus and elsewhere. How important for the Panthers is it to draft-and-develop moving forward?
What we’ve been trying to do … it’s very hard to do this in business and it’s certainly hard to do it in sports. People just want a simple, clear direction. Of course we want to win and of course we want to be competitive and make things happen. But, how do you get there?
A lot of times, people say ‘give me a hockey payroll number, a budget number’ and we’ve tried that in the past and it just wasn’t quite working. With Bill, there is a constant conversation of how we can improve the team.
The only way to really win, like long term, is to build from within. Everyone knows that; this is no secret, right? Draft really well, develop them really well and then bring them into the right process, get them on the team and play a team identity that you’re trying to establish. It’s not rocket science but it can be very hard to do.
Everyone kind of has the same design. In all leagues, it’s very hard to win and when you go to free agency, it should be to add a piece to help complete your team or to help get you over the hump.
You don’t want to build a team through free agency, you want the core of your team to be Panthers people who started at 18 as being a Panther they have pride and you kind of build it from there.
We were very happy with the draft process, the meetings he was in. He is a really smart guy and has a lot of credibility in the hockey community. But that stuff won’t help us for a couple of years. Right now, we want to be competitive.
With the NHL likely having a shortened 2020-21 season it is likely the All-Star Game scheduled for Sunrise will be a casualty. The organization was excited for this for good reason. How disappointing would it be to lose it?
Well, there has been no official word and I’m not supposed to say anything, but I mean, I can’t see how they’d fit it in.
The league is going to handle all of this. As far as a disappointment, it’s the same general disappointment from everything around COVID, really. This falls into the same bucket as having everything postponed, not being with our fans, all of that. There’s just nothing we can do about it.
But, I am pretty certain when we do an All-Star Game, we’re going to get it back. It may be postponed a year or whatever.
BB&T bank merged with SunBank and is now Truist. Is the BB&T Center going to be the Truist Center anytime soon?
Nothing yet. We’re trying to name it Truist Arena instead of Center. But nothing has been finalized.
On Wednesday night, the Billboard Latin Music Awards show will be held and broadcast from the BB&T Center. No fans in the building, but how nice is it to have something in the building again. This is the first even since the Montreal game when Roberto Luongo had his number retired in March, right?
It is a private event, there are no fans but they are running it like a normal awards show with the artists and the producers and all that. We’re excited about it. It’s nice to nice to be operating and having something going on here again.