The Florida Panthers received the only A+ grade in ESPN’s 2025 NHL team report cards: Draft, free agency and trades article. Here is what the piece had to say about general manager Bill Zito’s masterful work:
Overall grade: A+
Key players added: D Jeff Petry, G Daniil Tarasov
Key players lost: D Nate Schmidt, G Vitek Vanecek
Remaining cap space: None (projected $2,950,000 over)
Florida GM Bill Zito gets top marks for somehow keeping all the key pieces of the Panthers’ recent Stanley Cup runs off the open market. Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand received long-term contracts from the club that will chisel its name onto hockey’s holy grail for the second straight season. And there’s no doubt Zito was aided by willing participants who left millions on the table by not exploring their options elsewhere. Winning has that sort of appeal.
Zito also found a young netminder in Tarasov to back up Sergei Bobrovsky next season as a possible upgrade over Vanecek.
There were other under-the-radar adds across the board for Florida too from Zito — replacing the departing Schmidt with Petry, re-signing fourth-liner Tomas Nosek and bringing in Brandon Bussi and Nolan Foote.
The Panthers’ depth has been a weapon over long postseason runs and Florida is well-positioned again thanks to Zito’s savvy business moves to be elite again over the next 12 months. Honestly, he couldn’t have done much more to give Florida a chance to create a true dynasty.
The National Hockey League’s Board of Governors and the NHL Players’ Association’s full membership ratified a four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement, more than a year before the expiration of the current contract. The new agreement runs through the 2029-30 season. After years of contentious negotiations having the new deal done early is welcome change. Well done!
We have a trade! Our cross-state rivals in Tampa Bay traded 2025 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner Isaac Howard to the Edmonton Oilers for fellow prospect Sam O’Reilly. The Oilers promptly inked Howard to a three-year, entry-level contract. Howard scored 26 goals and added 26 assists last season for Michigan State University. O’Reilly produced 28 goals and 71 points in 62 games for the OHL’s London Knights in 2024-25. Both players were chosen in first round of the NHL Draft. Howard went 31st overall to the Lightning in 2022 and O’Reilly was picked 32nd overall by the Oilers in 2024.
The Vancouver Canucks re-signed goaltender Nikita Tolopilo and defenseman Jett Woo. Tolopilo received a two-year, two-way contract worth $1.55 million. Woo signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $775K. Both players were members of the Abbotsford Canucks, who defeated the Charlotte Checkers in six games to win the Calder Cup.
Forward Adam Beckman re-upped with the New York Islanders, signing a one-year, two-way contract worth $775K. Beckman played 43 games with the Utica Comets before the Islanders acquired him from the New Jersey Devils on March 7. After the trade he played 12 games for the Bridgeport Islanders. He finished the season with 17 goals and 40 points.
The Vegas Golden Knights re-signed defenseman Lukas Cormier to a one-year, two-away deal. Due to injury, Cormier appeared in just 19 AHL games (9 assists) with the Henderson Silver Knights last season. Vegas drafted him in the third-round (68th overall) of the 2020 draft.