Inside The PWHL: Toronto tries to avoid Game 5 collapse
When Kyle Dubas was named general manager of the Maple Leafs some six years ago, he began his hockey journey fortunately with Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly already on a star-laden roster.
When Bill Zito was hired as general manager of the Florida Panthers, without much applause, he being 21 years older than Dubas, he inherited a roster that included Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad and what seemed to be an overpaid goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers had missed the playoffs the year before Zito arrived. They were undoubtedly a work in progress for the former player agent to solve.
The first big move Dubas made in Toronto was the free-agent signing of John Tavares, so exciting at the time, and so strangling and numbing after COVID-19 hit and the salary cap froze, hampering his ability to be bold in his Maple Leafs manoeuvring.
Zito, who arrived on the job one year after Dubas and inherited less, wasn’t considered the next great anything. He began with a Panthers team in 19th place in the league and all he’s done since is had a near-sensational run with Florida, winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2022 even after losing his coach, Joel Quenneville, to unofficial suspension.
Dubas had five seasons to make the Maple Leafs better. Zito, in five seasons, has put on a managerial clinic that has everyone in hockey taking notice. He has moved the Panthers from average to great, with bold creative deals, and built a team that already has played for one Stanley Cup and likely will play for more under his supervision.
The Panthers likely are on their way to a second Eastern Conference final in two years after winning a Presidents’ Trophy the year before with a different kind of team and a different coach. Zito was like one of those TV show renovators — he took an axe to a lot of the Panthers roster.
Most GMs fall in love with first-place teams. Zito let coach Andrew Brunette walk, hired Paul Maurice and began the further dismantling of the roster. This after a 122-point season.
In all, Zito has changed five of his six defencemen. He has changed 10 of his 12 starting forwards. He has altered backup goaltenders behind Bobrovsky, many of them playing a large role in the success of the Panthers.
But the work done — in particular the trades and free-agent signings (none of which got the splash of a Tavares signing) — has not won him a Jim Gregory Award for GM of the year, but if there was an award for GM of the past five years, he’d be the runaway winner.
Over a three-month period in 2021, Zito showed his moxie as a manager by making deals for right-shot defenceman Brandon Montour, game-changing centre Sam Bennett and scoring winger Sam Reinhart.
He took advantage of the inexperienced GM in Buffalo, Kevyn Adams, getting Reinhart for goaltender Devon Levi and a first-round draft pick just after he plucked Montour for a third-round choice from Buffalo.
What’s happened since then? Montour, the pending free agent, has been so good on the Florida blueline that he gets Team Canada mentions for the 2026 Olympic team.
So does Reinhart, who was second behind Matthews in goal-scoring this year in Florida and also has his contract up at the end of the season.
All the whirling dervish Bennett has done is take Brad Marchand out of the second round of the playoffs, all but physically overwhelm the Maple Leafs last year and, in between, has provided the Panthers with a different kind of look as an unconventional second-line centre.
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