According to a few reports (story first broken by Elliotte Friedman) on Tuesday evening, Bill Zito is about to be named the new general manager of the Florida Panthers. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun added that he should be officially announced as the GM on Wednesday.
Zito, 55, has been an assistant general manager with the Columbus Blue Jackets since 2013. He will leave his position with the club to take over for the recently released Dale Tallon. Tallon was fired after a ten-year run and the Panthers failed to advance beyond the Stanley Cup play-in round.
Friedman not only broke the story, but followed the hiring process closely. He said as many as 13 people were interviewed for the job and named a handful of interesting candidates. Interestingly, Zito was not one of them.
An executive with a player agent background, Zito worked for 20 years representing players and Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen called him “an astute businessman who understands all facets of our game.” Perhaps it was that aspect of his resume that Florida liked so much. That he acted as an assistant under Kelalainen doesn’t hurt as the Blue Jackets have really turned that organization around despite some bad breaks.
The Blue Jackets have continually been a playoff team under their tenure and the Panthers would like to see a little more of that in their future.
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