Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Florida Panthers were back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, skating in the Final three straight seasons and assembling a lineup that rivaled most NHL All-Star teams. Of course, the front office earned the top spot in The Athletic's annual rankings of NHL front offices. However, when the wheels fell off the Cats' wagon last year, the team tumbled down the standings and ended up with the 9th overall pick at the draft. Yet, that didn't stop General Manager Bill Zito from continuing to pull off blockbusters, bringing in Brady Tkachuk while reuniting with Jacob Markström and Radko Gudas.
Because the Panthers enter the 2026-27 season as Stanley Cup contenders, The Athletic still ranks Zito and his team among the NHL elite, but no longer first. Let’s see what happened in the rankings and where Florida landed.
Panthers front office remains in the NHL’s Top 5
The reigning Stanley Cup champions, Carolina Hurricanes, took home this year’s top honors, jumping up from third to first overall. Because they have been contenders for quite some time, they finally broke through while the Panthers were out of the playoffs, capturing their second title over the Vegas Golden Knights. Right behind them, the Montreal Canadiens also jumped up a few spots, going from fifth to second. Their magical 2025-26 season came with the third-best record in the Atlantic Division and a run to the Eastern Conference Final.
Meanwhile, Florida’s other team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, got a bump up one spot, going from fourth to third in this year’s rankings, which brings the Panthers down to fourth overall.
When looking at The Athletic’s report card, Zito and his team got A’s across the board, except in one area that could hurt the team in the long run: draft and develop. As many across the league know, Florida continues to mortgage the future for its win-now core, sending away first-round picks in blockbuster trades. Right now, it’s not an issue, since the majority of the core is 30 or younger, but eventually those guys will age out, and the production will dip, meaning the rookies will need to step up, if they have any of them.
One flaw may catch up to the Panthers one day
People often criticize the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers for aggressively spending to build championship-caliber rosters, and the Panthers could, in a roundabout way, join that conversation. However, at some point, both organizations drafted and developed Hall of Famers, something Florida did with Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad. But even the great franchises go through droughts, and eventually this wheeling and dealing could catch up to the organization, the main reason the Panthers got a C+ in this category.
Without beating a dead horse, going over all the great moves Zito and his team have pulled off to have the successes they’ve had this decade, the report card speaks for itself. Right now, Florida is one of the best hockey markets in the world, and it’s not only The Athletic saying it, but Bleacher Report believes in their bounce-back performance in 2026-27.
Add us as a preferred source on Google