Florida Panthers add Paul Krepelka and Tom Bark to front office staff

Florida Panthers General Manager Bill Zito has named Paul Krepelka Assistant General Manager and Tom Bark Assistant to the General Manager.

Krepelka joins the Panthers after spending the previous two seasons as the Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Carolina Hurricanes (2018-19 to 2019-20) where his responsibilities included player contract negotiations, collective bargaining agreement/salary cap compliance, player personnel, and all other hockey-related matters.

The graduate of Princeton University spent 20 years as a sports agent including his time as co-founder and partner of Orr Hockey Group. The native of Arlington, Mass., earned his law degree from Suffolk University.

Krepelka played collegiate hockey for the Tigers before playing two seasons with the ECHL’s Hampton Roads Admirals (1991-92 to 1992-93) winning a Riley Cup in 1992.

Bark spent the previous five seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets (2015-16 to 2019-20).

He most recently served as the Blue Jackets’ Manager of Scouting Operations and Player Evaluation and was responsible for assisting the senior hockey operations staff with player evaluation, hockey operations research and development, data analytics and strategic planning.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Bark served as an analytics consultant for South Korea at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the 2018 IIHF World Championship.

Prior to his time with Columbus, Bark spent three years as an associate at Acme World Sports, specializing in regulatory compliance, player evaluation and global market dynamics.

Bark graduated from Lake Forest College in 2013 and earned his Juris Doctorate from the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University in 2017.

These look like very solid moves as Zito continues to impress in his short time as Florida’s GM.