The Panthers got almost every major move right

The secret to their success isn't complicated -- they have the best front office in hockey right now.

The Florida Panthers are the new gold standard for success in the NHL, putting together one of the best four-year runs of the salary cap era. They went from a Presidents’ Trophy in 2021-22, to the Stanley Cup Final in 2022-23, to winning it all in 2023-24, to repeating as champions this season in 2024-25.

Depending on who or what you want to listen to, there are a lot of narratives as to why they have found so much success.

It’s because they are tough and nasty and play a winning style of hockey.

It’s because Florida has no state income tax, making it an attractive destination for players looking to maximize their earnings.

Or maybe it’s just because they have the best roster, perfectly blending skill, scoring, defense, goaltending and toughness into one total package.

Maybe it’s all of that to some degree.

It’s probably all of it.

But for whatever advantage the tax thing might be (I am not buying that as a primary reason, for the record — a lot of teams play in tax-free states and aren’t this good, and a lot of teams in states with tax have had their own success), and for as physical as they might be, the biggest factor in the Panthers’ sustained success is that they currently have the best front office in the NHL that has hit home run after home run on almost all of their major moves.

They have rarely missed since general manager Bill Zito took over five years ago, and as a result his front office has built an absolute powerhouse of a team.

The Matthew Tkachuk trade is obviously the biggest one that gets the most attention given his overall star power and impact, and the Brad Marchand trade at the deadline this year turned out to be one of the best deadline moves in recent NHL history. But it isn’t just those moves. Pretty much everything sandwiched in between them has also been a wild success.

Let’s dig into it and talk about it a little more, and also discuss how the Panthers have busted one of the biggest narratives surrounding hockey analytics.