The Florida Panthers capped off another superb postseason run last night, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-1 thrashing that earned them the Stanley Cup. This is their second consecutive season hoisting hockey's greatest prize. If you're a Blue Jackets fan, this might sting a little bit.
The Panthers are managed by Bill Zito, who tutored under former CBJ General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen. He's the architect that built the Panthers into what they are today: one of the best teams we've seen in the NHL in the salary cap era.
Before hiring Zito, the Panthers were basically the southern version of the Blue Jackets. After a Cinderella run that saw them march to a Stanley Cup Finals berth in 1996, they had made the playoffs just 5 times in the 23 years after - with no playoff series wins. This includes the COVID play-in bubble in 2020, where they lost in 4 games to the New York Islanders.
After that season's shortfall, they relieved then-GM Dale Tallon of his duties; replacing him with Zito on September 2nd, 2020. The team has not missed the playoffs since this change. Their first year under Zito saw them finish second in their division, but unfortunately finished with a first round loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In his second year, Zito formed the Panthers into a President's Trophy winning team on the back of a 58 win, 122 point season. That year, they won a playoff series for the first time in 26 years. In his third season in charge, the Panthers took a big step back in the regular season; but found their playoff legs; marching all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. That was in the spring of 2023. They haven't lost a playoff series since.
Another former Jacket played a big part in Florida's change.
The fact that the Panthers were looking for a new GM in the first place, might have been a direct result of one of Tallon's biggest moves in his time in Florida. In the summer of 2019, he signed former Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to a 7-year, $70 million dollar contract.
Upon Zito's hiring just one year later, that contract was widely viewed as one of the worst in the NHL. It was supposed to be something for him to clean up. But here, 5 years later, and it's hard to see it as a bad signing. In fact, one could make the argument that Bobrovsky is actually underrated for the Panthers. He's backstopped them to three straight Stanley Cup Finals appearances, winning 11 of their last 12 playoff series. He now has two Stanley Cup rings as their starting goaltender.
Lest we overlook one of Zito's big trade deadline acquisitions.
Guess who led the Panthers in average time on ice in the playoffs? If you're reading this article, you shouldn't even have to look. It was former Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, who averaged 25:30 per game in the postseason; a full 90 seconds more than the next closest player (Aaron Ekblad).
He was very good for the Cats, scoring 4 goals, 9 points in 23 games, while owning a +13 rating. This is the same Seth Jones who scored 27 points for the Chicago Blackhawks this season, with a -18 rating. We thought his career was on a downward slide, but under Zito's management; he fell right into the arms of the talented, tight-knit Panthers locker room. He more than fell into the room. He became one of their most important pieces.
Why this stings for Blue Jackets fans.
Somewhere, in an alternate universe; Zito remained with the CBJ organization and replaced Jarmo Kekalainen as GM. Let's pretend this happened around the time they lost in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
Does Zito manage to keep Bobrovsky in the Union Blue? What about Artemi Panarin? Does Seth Jones re-sign here long-term? Would these Stanley Cup wins have occurred in Central Ohio? All of this is hard to say.
But, it speaks to two organizations that were being ran with completely different expectations. The Panthers took a first round (play in round) loss as a sign that they needed to make philosophical changes at the top. The Blue Jackets took a first round loss as a sign of progress and a brighter future. Hopefully, this lesson was learned by the ownership group in Columbus. Good truly can be the enemy of great.