The Hockey PDOcast - Bill Zito, the Panthers Team Building Approach Over the Years, and the Challenges of Doing It All Over Again

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance and Bill Zito to talk about his team building process and approach during his time in Florida, the challenges of keeping everyone together and managing the regular season when you've played as much extra hockey as the Panthers have, what's made their group work, and the goal of getting back to the mountaintop yet again this year. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name's Dmitra Filippovich and joining me here in studio, my good buddy, Thomas Trans. Tom, what's going on, man? I'm very excited for today's show. I'm very excited to welcome a very special guest to the PDO cast. Well, I'm going to do the intro as the host, but yes, you're right. We ended last season with our summer series of interviews with big-name guests featuring a whole cavalcade of people in the game. And as part of that process, there was one particular name. We were very keen to include because of how much his team helped define the 24, 25

NHL season. And there was summer and offseason logistics. We weren't able to make it happen at the time in July. But now that we're back at it prepping for the start of this new season, when you had to circle back and make it happen with this man to kick off the season with a banger. And so joining us today is the GM and president of hockey ops of the back-to-back, raining, defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, Bill, how's it going? Morning or good afternoon. Thank you for having. We're very excited to have you on. Most recently, as part of the series, we had Bill Armstrong on, we had Caldoubis on previously.

I think Thomas and I are both fascinated about the team building approach. And you've been in Florida now for five years as your sixth season. And I think we just want to get into sort of the process of putting together this group that's gone on this four-year run of winning the President's trophy first in 2022, then making it to a cup final the following year, and then winning it all the previous two seasons. and sort of everything that went into that. I want to start off with this because I feel like Thomas and I both agree that part of that process has been kind of buying low on talented players with pedigree who became available for a variety of reasons, mostly because of the situation they were in, right?

And you sort of identified them. There were players with pedigree who clearly had physical tools, but you felt like you could bring them in, put them into this different playing environment, and then get the most out of them and turn them into big contributors. And I want to get sort of this talent evaluation process in terms of certain markers or checkpoints you've been looking along the way to find the right fit with these guys that you've acquired either via trade. Well, whether it's going Sam Reinhardt and Brandon Montour who were playing in Buffalo at the time or Sam Bennett in Calgary, these are obviously players that had pedigree and clear talent, but they were on teams that either weren't getting the most out of them or just weren't winning. And so they became available for those reasons. what were the specific tools I think you were looking for?

The tools, I guess, first is to revisit, reaffirm perhaps. And I'm making this up as I talk to. So, well, I'm trying to find the right words to accurately depict the decision-making process or the evaluation that takes place. So I'm making it up. Go-blows, 100-goal score, and then it kind of falls off and he's not there. and somebody is saying, thinking, I think Joe Blow has 100 goals left down. It's still there.

Why did he fall off? What could happen? How does his skill set or what he did to score those 100 goals fit with our situation and a potential acquisition? And so somebody generally, at least in our history, someone has to stand up and say, I think it's there. I think if this, this and this. So it's more reasoning and process than it is hope. It's certainly not.

And it's 100% not sort of acquiring players who we think could blossom or do more. It's not a goal. It's a necessity. And it would be part of any and every evaluation we do. Could this player help us? this situation with his cap number. Does it fit? Does he help our team? So it's as much a function of the process as any focus on, you know, buy low and develop or anything like that. Bill, to pivot off the draft capital idea, because everyone's going to focus on the big hits,

the Bennett and Reinhardt trades, for example, but even in smaller moves or even moves that you've made that, you know, weren't the Foresling waiver claim, whether it's Noah Juleson or the Oli-Yeo Levy trade, it does seem like draft capital, at least to some extent, is informed a variety of these bets. You talked about the assessment process, the person standing up and sort of saying that's there. But does profile, right, profile bets, does that play any role in some of these swings that you've taken over the years? will you define what a profile bet is? I mean, you're looking at it and it's like maybe this guy's, put it this way,

are you always standing up and making a bet on the specific player? Or have you occasionally made a bet on this is the sort of profile? This is a high draft pedigree guide hasn't worked out there. Have you occasionally made bets that are just based off of player types as opposed to the specific. No, no, but it's part of the equation. So you might say Vinland, Sweden, Russia, Czech, Lovac.

Yeah. There's a 6'4-5 right shot defensemen from the national team, and he's been on their team for a few years. Why not? He has to sign a two-way. He has to sign an entry level. Yeah.

So, well, maybe he's not good. Okay. Well, we don't think he's good enough. He's going to make. It doesn't matter. But that kind of, that could certainly be a type of template. And I made that up, right? Of course.

But you could, perhaps, perhaps you could suggest to your scouts. Like there are certain things that when these rare physical situations appear on your radar, investigate. But it's not just. a blanket. Oh, if you, if you check these four boxes, we're taking you. Right. It's, it's, at least for us. Yeah.

Maybe other folks, I'm not sure. Well, it's just, it's just interesting that so many of the swings you've taken have that, you know, draft capital element to them, right? In terms of bringing some of those players in, knowing how your team plays, right? Especially the ability with, it seems, your team's, teams, teams been able to plug and play defensemen and really get more out of them than they'd done previously. Now, they seem to sustain that level afterwards. So how does that sort of understanding your play style inform some of the bets you're

able to make from a player acquisition side? I think perhaps it fuels the decision making insofar as do we have an opportunity to play or to offer this player success based on his game? So we have a need. Does his skill set or what we think he needs to do to be successful or continue to be more successful, does that fit our whole? And then when they get here, it's absolutely a function of, for example, for a defenseman, it's Sylvain LaFay and his coaching and teaching at the same time. And continuing to believe that all plays. players can improve, some can improve dramatically, even in their 20s, even in their mid to late 20s,

how our system of hockey behooves that improvement. You know, if I talk to some defensemen, for example, I probably said this to someone over the course the last couple of years, but you come to us, you have to go back and get a puck. and you look up and if a guy's wearing red, just throw it out. Take a slap shot out. It doesn't matter. He'll catch it. And then go change.

And if he's not open, get it out of his own. So now there are people for whom that would not be in their nature. Maybe it would be hard to do or something like that. But there's other people who probably fit it in perfectly. So that's kind of a made-up example of trying to find a skill set that fits with our needs. I don't know if you guys, have you heard my story about the Ferraris in Colorado? No, how do you. Go for it.

It's kind of silly, but I say it all the time. You want me to shut up, I will. No, go for it. So there's a very blessed guy. He's wealthy. And he loves his family. He loves his friend. And that's the most important thing to have.

He's reached the point where, you know, his love for his buddies is paramount. And so he plans a ski weekend in Vail. And he's got it all, right? The big house, it's down to ski. It's wonderful. That's who has a place in Denver. So everyone's coming in Thursday night. We'll all meet in Denver.

We'll drive up Friday morning and we'll ski for three. So they get there Thursday. And he's like, I got a surprise for everybody. There's eight guys here. I got four Ferraris. We're going to have a run off the mountain. It'll be a blast. It's great.

Except that night, the blizzard hit. Those Ferraris aren't leaving the driveway. So the neighbor comes down the street and says, I got four Chevy Suburban. I trade you for your four four for a lot. He says, done. And he has the best time. He just wonderful weekend. But he lost the train.

Right. Okay. Lost. Yep. So the person judging or their perspective, they may have no idea as to what the needs are. They think they do, right? But the reality was the most important thing in this was this gentleman's ability to enjoy the weekend. So the Suburban filled the hole. even though the Ferraris may have greater value in a market or whatever

and I guess look I mean you can extrapolate that example and sell the Ferraris get the money by but you know whatever it is but you know what I'm saying is sometimes sometimes it's not the shiny toy always if it's the hole sometimes it is and sometimes the players change the hole right that there's a the hole will morph because the player came and kind of build a need, but then added more and added more, and now all of a sudden they changed the landscape.

I have a question. I don't have a Ferrari story, Bill, but I do have a question for you. It's all made up. You can just do it. Did you sense that, you know, in following the league this offseason, especially early on, it felt like there was a bit of a paradigm shift in the market with the cap. This being the first summer, the cap went up, right, from a market amount, from 85 to 95.5, where I think previously we'd become accustomed to teams feeling this

financial crunch in terms of entering the offseason, looking at their situation, feeling a need to improve, and then being like, well, the most logical path forward is addition by subtraction to an extent to shed this contract or shed this player off our team and then create the space to add elsewhere. It felt like because everyone all of a sudden had this newfound cap space this summer, we didn't see nearly as much of that. The buy market was much thinner than it's been in the past. Teams weren't really shedding, you know, your conventional cap dump type of deals anymore. And if anything, they were actually getting back assets in return for those, for those contracts. Do you feel like in your conversations around

the league and just kind of taking stock of what happened with other teams that that was the case in practice? And the reason why I asked that is one of the areas you've had success in past off seasons has been with some of these quote unquote reclamation projects, whether it's, a Wemberg who obviously you had a connection with from your time in Columbus or then OEL, Nate Schmidt, kind of filling spots, valuable spots in your lineup with guys who had been bought out, bringing them in, selling them on that situation you have there with the environment, having fun, winning games, putting up your numbers, and being able to get another payday elsewhere afterwards, do you feel like it's shifting from that and you're going to have to

find a new area of opportunity to mine talent creatively? Or do you feel, like maybe that's a little bit overblown and maybe this was a one-off just because everyone, it's such a novel idea that the cab has gone up and it's going to revert back a little bit in future off-season? I don't know. I think that, for example, those bio players, if you look at these examples that you brought up, in addition, this may be some free agents. I think like Rodko Goodos before he came to us, I think he had been healthy squatched

year before. Not a ton that there weren't, you know, and for the most part, most, and I guess that's a subjective word, but a significant number of players who have come to us, have had career years here,

and any number of players, whether it was Wendberg, it was Nate Schmidt, it was Stalard, have played for us, spent their time here and then gotten their payday or their opportunity if perhaps we couldn't offer it because of our situation of the money that was already booked. But I think that is the biggest lure,

beyond the weather, it's the winning and being a part of that in tandem with the individual success that a lot of players have had being part this team. I think that's what would attract players the most. Bill, it's been interesting to watch sort of the last few years or the way, you came into a group where you inherited a very talented core, but a group that hadn't consistently

won. And when I think about, you know, that I guess it was the offseason of 2020, but it happened in October, right? There was a volume approach in a flat cap world. And, you know, there's so many questions that I have about sort of that first offseason that you had. But I want to start with this because you've talked a fair bit about the role of ownership, right? And in some ways, now, whether it was Verhege or we can go on and on, there was a declare, there was a ton of quality players that your club was able to add in a very short window of time and a very, a very reasonable clip. but there was also an ability to perhaps speculate at volume in a cash crunch environment where a lot of teams weren't spending money on those types of players.

And I'm curious to throw that at you and then sort of pivot to the role of ownership generally in accomplishing some of what you've been able to. That being one example, but perhaps some of the signing bonus structures of your deals being another that we've seen more recently. Yeah, I'm going to sound kind of jerky, and I don't mean it that way. But you use the word speculate. So we have a number of folks here who work, are TASO, who are brilliant, brilliant people, and smart, smart men and women. And this is what they do. Their job is to evaluate talent. So the decisions we make, I mean, yes, I guess ultimately you could use that word and characterize it as anything.

you do is speculation, right? But for the most part, it's a... I almost mentioned in financial terms. It's a very informed decision based upon their expertise and intellect and hard work and collective decision-making

that would yield, we think this. Some of them, you know, Anthony Declare, it was like a we had a cheat sheet because we had them in Columbus. So anything you want to know about them, I could tell you.

And then if somebody thought perhaps this or that, I could say, well, I think that suggestion or that belief is errant because of this, like I can tell you I was there. So, and that happened across the board with a lot of the people, right? I mean, Patrick Cornquest is a no brain. Everybody knows. There's no secret as to what he is. But I think the evaluation from the scouts to Sunny Mehta, it was pretty thorough. And so as far as identifying players, the process is very important.

You also remember, at the time, we meeting playing. we didn't have like so it so it was easier um not worrying and i'll get to that point not worrying about are we going to be right or wrong um of course we're going to be wrong we're all going to be wrong but um do we have an opportunity for these players to do their thing and have success is if we don't don't bother um and we had lots of opportunity and And that, and Joel Quendell was wonderful. He was like, get him in, I'll play him. We got to, you know, this is awesome.

And then he did. And he gave guys opportunity. And there's also the Barkov effect. Where you come in and anybody could play a stasha. And you would feel like you played with him your whole career. So there is a dis, it's not disarm. it's a welcoming environment could you imagine

you get traded to this team and they're like I'm playing with Barkaw well you get nervous you'd be like oh I want to do well oh does he want the park oh does he want the pocket oh I got you but that's what helps

people get better and also pulls out the best of his teammates because other people start behaving that one so I think that it can't be understated how powerful

Josh's commitment to the room and to others, and it's not something he thinks about it. It's just who he is. Right? It's just who he is. And as far as ownership, Vinny has something that he says to me frequently, so long as your intent is virtuous,

there's no consequence for failure. You are going to fail. For sure. Like, who doesn't? Don't allow that to motivate. your reasoning or you're thinking you're behavior. That's not a thing, right? And it wasn't a spoken mandate,

but that's how Paul and the coaching staff treat the players, right? Play, play, execute. That's going to go wrong. Well, we're okay. We've got other good guys and you're a good guy and you're going to cover the other guy. So that commitment from the biolas is really empowering.

Yeah, I think that what I'm always amazed by, and we've spoken about this in the past, especially in the wake of you winning the Stanley Cup last season, this organizational buy-in that seems kind of like a top-down approach, you mentioned the ownership there, down to yourself in the front office, to Paul Maurice as the coach, and then the players where I think we've become accustomed to,

and certainly you've lost some players along the way that you mentioned earlier, that had career years hit the free-ager market and were able to cash in and move on elsewhere, and you weren't able to fit them in to your future plans. But in the moment, there hasn't really been any, quote-unquote, disease of more that I think we've seen from championship teams in the past, where all of a sudden players feel like when you're playing on such a deep team like the Panthers were, well, I'm not really a third-liner. I'm probably a top-line talent elsewhere.

could be putting up more points, getting more national attention, being on more lists for most underrated players. And instead, they kind of just happily fit their role, contribute to this winning organization. And I guess that's a lot of the things you just mentioned there from Barkov and the coaching staff all the way up to the ownership, but just sort of that mentality, I guess, where everyone that comes in seems to immediately just play Florida Panthers hockey, all gas, north, south, constantly attacking and being aggressive and doing. so within that team concept.

We're certainly going to see, you know, with Barkov's unfortunate injury, there's going to be an added opportunity for a guy like Landel to play higher up in the lineup and get more minutes and more offensive opportunity that he's certainly talented enough to receive, just did it in the past because of the way you guys were constructed. But I'm always fascinated by that in terms of trying to roll this over as a sustainable approach from year to year and not just be a one-off and having everyone kind of buy into that process along the way. So I would say our mandate is we want to be the hardest working team in the league

and we want to have the most fun. And we actually have to work at having fun to make sure that we're keeping it. There's levity. There's a comfort zone that away from the rink you enjoy your life and you can be a person. When we're in the moment, we do everything we possibly can to be as good as we can be. But you're not here. Go golf.

Go fish. Spend time with your family. Walk the dog. Whatever it is that makes you happy and complete. And you're going to be a better player, doctor, banker. Okay. Whatever it is you do, if you're fulfilled away from your job, or at least you even thinking about it,

or I think helps make you better. with regard to the disease of me, if you will, I'll revert back to Sasha. You can't. You can't do it when he's there. Because he is, if you want to talk about underrated talents and people, it begins and ends with him.

And he killed him. It's a blessing that it's very, very, difficult to impress upon people who haven't had the privilege of being around him. And I gush about him all the time and it sounds kind of silly, but it's real. And it's such a significant part of our team and our corner culture that I could speak the whole time about him and his effect. this the a succinct way of saying it is

I can speak for myself I'm going to work harder to be better because I don't want to let him down and I think you could say the same thing about Paul Maurice Bill oh sorry excuse me no no just along those lines about you know when you first came

you know the players respect him yeah and and now and then they trust him to do the right thing, right? And then they believe in him. So, yeah, we're really lucky. Bill, with

the changes that are, that have happened effectively, in terms of limiting long-term injured reserve, right? And the playoff salary cap kicking in, in combination with your team losing for a stretch of, I think you announced it at seven to nine months,

one of the game's great players and gentlemen, in Alexander Barkoff. There's an element to which, you know, this new challenge the teams are going to face in replacing injured players, you're sort of, you know, I don't want to make light of a devastating injury, but, you know, you're sort of the Neil Armstrong here. Like you are going to be tested to replace a star level player

in a new system just designed sort of first, right, in some ways. How do you think through the strategic changes there, in real time. And I'm not asking you to give anything away. I'm sure this is something you're actively thinking about. No, I'll give it all the way to you. I don't. Perfect.

So, I mean, I'm not sure, okay, the landscape changed. Okay. We still have a team. We're fine. It's harder to do. Okay. You can't replace this guy.

So it could have been the old rules and we couldn't have replaced. you know, that's the joke. What are you going to do? Well, we're going to go through our list to six-foot-four superstar settings. Always on the right side of the best choice. Like, you can't, it doesn't exist. So we don't really dwell on it. And it's the, I'm not going to go into too great of a detail,

but our process and the way we do it every day and communicate doesn't really change. And so I don't think there is a bar call of replacement. Okay, well, we'll do our best and we'll consider the options in front of us. And if there's something we can do to make our team better, we'll do it. But we'll always do that. Like, I would have done it if they hadn't changed the LTI rule, and Matthew was healthy, and it doesn't really change. And if it, if it, if it's harder, so be it.

At some point, it'll be easier. And everybody has to, the rules are the same for everybody. So is it harder, though? I mean, in terms of how you think through. Harder what? Well, is it harder in terms of, you know, you don't get the full amount of the cap hit to add in, not a replacement, but someone to help keep you afloat or help you. hold the fort in the regular season.

I mean, think about it. Are you going to go out for dinner this weekend, possibly? I am, actually. Saturday night. I've got tapus. Okay. So will it be harder if your dollar is devalued so much than not? Like, yeah.

Well, I'm Canadian, so I'm used to that. Like, you say, you say to me, you can have $10 million in cap space with 3.8. Right. Yeah. It's harder. But like, okay. it's safe for everything like yeah so what it's harder are there any nuances you have to think through right okay so there's a what well nuances or complexities you have to think through both in terms of

the new limitations imposed versus you know sort of the the difficulty of bringing everyone back for the playoffs right that that new environment is sort of what i'm curious to get your thoughts on but but the nuances would have been the same they just shift with less money right right so you're always sitting, let's just say you could replace the player. And then you could get the player back for the playoffs. And, okay, you know, is that the time frame, right? I'm not a fraud. So, okay, is what if it comes early?

What would we do? How would we address this? If a magic wand happens and Barkov and Kach are ready tomorrow, we have to move money. Right. So those are all things that are contemplated well in advance and not novel. Every team's doing it. Everybody is planning sort of the what-if checklist.

And you take it right down to the just above silly, right? Because you never know. And then you think you have options and something happens and they disappear or something happens and you have more option. So it's the process that's in place, right? That you have a what-if process to consider the what-ifs. But yeah, it's a little harder with less space, but, I mean, I think it ends, you know, you finish that sentence and then, okay, that's over,

let's move forward. because you don't have a choice. You can't change it. Right. What do they say? You know, worry about the things you can control. Bill, I want to ask you about the approach to the regular season.

Now, obviously, the recent Barkov injury and the Kachuk injury before that as well, and their absences may change the calculus a little bit here. But I think there's a general idea that there's a physical and a mental tax as well to playing as much extra hockey. as you guys have had over the past three years. I think that's a big reason why heading into last year's postseason, a lot of the public consensus was, oh, I'm not sure if the Panthers can do it again

because they've just been playing so much extra hockey at this aggressive style. And eventually that's going to take its toll. And then obviously you guys wound up doing it anyways and getting back to the mountaintop. We did see you guys last year down the stretch, I think, prioritize the playoffs a little bit in terms of making sure guys were healthy and available and as rested up as could be heading into the playoffs. Part of that was sacrificing your place in the standings, right?

You wound up finishing in a spa where you had to start every series on the road and obviously felt confident and were able to do so in going out on the road and winning those series anyways. But I guess just the idea of managing this regular season 82 game marathon of a grind when, especially now that you've won a couple times, your clear goal, it is for a lot of teams. for you specifically getting back to that position, being the last team standing once again and trying to do something which seems almost impossible in hockey, which is three-peating as champions. How do you sort of manage the regular season from that perspective of obviously you have to make

the playoffs to begin with and be in a certain position? So you can't necessarily just punt the regular season. But you know that your goals lay later on in the year and that's where you're going to be judged upon. I think it's a similar question or similar answer, sort of that it's process driven where you take the what-ifs to play in your what-ifs. And so when you played that much hockey, yeah, you asked the question that you asked. Is it too much? Is it a dream? Is it? Maybe it isn't.

Maybe we just think of it. We don't know. I represented a player named Brian Rolfsky. I don't know the exact numbers, but I think it's close enough to be germany this discussion. I think he went to the finals three years and three times and four years with the Devils. And then he signed a free agency and he did it like three times and four. Like I think he went six times to the finals in an eight year span.

I know that he played more more hockey games than anyone else during that time period. Yep. Didn't affect them at all. I was like, nope. And, and, you know, so we spend a lot, a lot of time and effort and energy on the sports science side of things and asking why and asking what if. And then using the input and the communication and teamwork between sports science staff and Paul and myself and our staff.

in coming up with a plan and then, you know, as you referenced moments ago, well, the what is. And a lot of it is learning. A lot of it is what we would love to be able to rest our guys, as with any team. We need the points. You know, we've got to make the play out. So that may not be there. Okay, if it's not there, then what?

What's the next part? Here's our plan. and if it doesn't go to plan, then what do we do? Then what do we do? And then a B, a C, a D, and so forth. So that's the way that's the way at least we approach it. And I think,

I don't think that's a novel concept in our world, right? There's a lot of industries and businesses and teams that have to plan with a myriad of uncertainties, right? You think about traffic or the airlines, so on. I know that we're all frustrated individually with airlines from time to time, but can you even begin to comprehend how difficult it is to do what they do?

I mean, it's uncanny. And so, yeah, you just, you try to think about what your preconceptions are. Check those against what your information tells you is actually real and what is it. Distinguish the list of volumes with regard to the things you can control and the decision-making process

that you think you can. And then it's just keep layering that process so that you're prepared as you can be for the what-ifs. That's kind of a popular answer. I didn't mean it to sound that way.

It's the same as managing the money, right? Like you have a team, you have a $100 million cap, you have a $20 million guy. He's out with a high ankle spree. Good luck. Right? It could be four weeks.

It could be four. months, you don't know. And you have the opportunity to fill it. I don't know. What if it's four weeks? Then I got, you know, so and then, and then you go to the next layer. Is whoever or I'll say whatever as far as a group comes in and fills that void, the $20 million that's on LTI or whatever? What about a team? So you go back to the original. process of evaluating, do they fit? Are they good guys? Are they part of our culture? If they're not, can they be? Why? Why can they be? What do we have to do to help them be? What do they have to do? All those. So, yeah.

Bill, we're in the middle of fantasy football season. I don't appreciate you bringing up high-ankle sprains. It's a topic that's very sensitive to me right now. We're in the middle of fantasy football season. I don't appreciate high- ankle sprains. I feel like that's something I'm way too familiar with this point. Yes. I'm sorry. I was trying to think of a, you know, one of these severe injuries. Yes. It has such a predictability. Yeah. Yeah. But Bill, you're sort of in a unique spot this year. It seems to me as an as an outside observer where so often we see a team have the level of success that your club has enjoyed the last two years. And on July 1st,

there is at least a key player who's going to depart because they're priced out of how that team wants to pull in the cap area. Yeah, that's happened to a nick every year. Any times. And so it feels different because you were able to go about extending Bennett, Eckblad, Marchand, and even... Nico Mikhaila. Yeah, from Nico Mikola. But I'm at the center on the fourth line. Thomas Mosch.

Excuse me. Name just escaped. Thomas Nose. Thomas Noshik, excuse me. And so I'm, does that reflect like a recognition of how special, the achievements of your current group are that, you know, you move heaven and earth to give them a chance for,

for history? Or does it reflect a change from the flat cap era to this new era of cap growth? What sort of should we take from it as outside observers trying to understand your team this season. I can only tell you what I take for it from it. Perfect. It's that they stayed and they did it. There was a finite amount of,

it wasn't changed. And they knew it, and they figured out a way. And I suspect, you know, it would be fun to talk to them about it. You know, did you guys all talk to each other and say, listen, you got a little wiggle room here. I'm sure they did casually, you know, in the postseason, like, and I made a joke that I would get an Excel spreadsheet and go in and just give it to them.

And so you guys fill it out. You don't want to, fine, but then we'll go get someone else. But like you guys have a chance. But no, it's, To me, it's an essay on our group and our coaching staff, on everything, on ownership. We have a lot to improve on. I do as a general manager.

I do as a person. We do as a team. We do as a staff. And as an organization, a lot of improvement. And a lot of things where we, a lot of, instances of failure, instances of shortcomings, but we try to do it. And I think maybe that's what they appreciate the most, as if they stay, we are going to try to provide them the opportunity to be the best team they can be and the best individuals they

can be as members of that team. It sounds like a, you know, like a recruiting brochure. but we do live it. And, you know, we fail and we reflect and self-reflect and communicate. And that would go from how the left wing fulfills his role and what he's asked to do and train and practice to how the pro scout evaluates and prepares to how they cook the field. like it's anything and everything and I don't think it's novel either but here with the group that we have you do think that there's an appreciation of that

and a willingness from our players and our coaches and our staff actually not just buy in but buy in and try to be better at that too well Bill thank you so much for taking the time in our busy schedule and finally making this happen with us and indulging us during this lovely

chat. I think it was a real treat for not only us, but our listeners as well. Best of luck this year in pursuit of that three-peat. You got anything I always ask our guests on the way out. You got anything to plug? You want to plug the season opener against the Blackhawks coming up next Tuesday or anything on the way out? I don't know that one. There's so many things. You know what? I want to plug, I want to plug Nico Miko. Yes, a topic near and dear to our heart. Yep. He's the guy.

He's the man. you mean. Oh, I love that guy. Yep. Okay. What do you mean? He's the guy who believed in himself and figured a way to keep going, keep different opportunities, learn from them, move past them, and continue to improve, you know,

at an older age as compared, like there's an 18-year-old versus a 25, you don't know what I had. And this isn't a very GMy thing to say, but I'm really proud of him. Like what he's done for himself and for our team is exactly, those are the things like, I say to my son, you want to be like Miko Miko. You want to be that one. And, yeah, that's my plug. I want to be like Niko and Miko, Bill. Watching them in the playoffs was remarkable.

That hurricane series in particular, it felt like an out-of-one. I don't know if you guys are aware of this story. It's on YouTube, but we're playing the Rangers two years ago. We won a big game in the playoffs in Madison Square. You know, the winner of the game, Puck presents it to the player of the game. Johnny McGadjavich had been away.

He wasn't even with us. He was having, and he was back home having twins, his first children. So his return to our club just coincided. We were in New York. So he flew in, got the afternoon flight, and actually showed up at MST at first period. So we win the game, and Mikola is the guy presenting the puck.

Everyone's in there and I don't know. Bob had a shutout, Ryan Hart had 18 gold, whatever it is, right? And he's giving the game puck, and he goes, the gage. And there was that percentage of a second of silence and like, what? And then everybody got it.

At once it was like this wave and you could feel it. You could feel the most of the time tension is a negative thing. But in this instance it's a positive thing. It was like an atmospheric change but it was tangible as a physical feeling

in the room. Yeah. And everybody jumps up and starts hugging catch. And he said to that man, you are on our team. You aren't even here. But you had those kids and you did that and you're one of us. And it was one of the most powerful things I've ever seen. So simple. And it was born of just kindness and class and a full commitment

and understanding not just in the moment, but from 30,000 feet that this is a team. and that's how you have to work. And it wouldn't, his, that characteristic of Nico would not have changed had he not given the puck. It's still all there. But in, in that moment,

it was really special and really cool. And I think there's a YouTube clip of it. And you can see Sam Reinhart. I don't know how well you guys see me. And he's sitting next to him. So I'm giving it to Gage. And the expression on his state kind of coinciding with everybody's hearing and Sam's a bright guy, so he probably got it before

everybody else, but I don't know. Sam's like, that's pretty cool, but I did score 18 goals, so let's give me a lot of credit too. You know what I mean, right? Yeah. The significant contribution of guys in the game, probably, like, you couldn't have overlooked it, was like, wow. Well, that's certainly the perfect plug to end today's show on.

I'm honestly jealous of it. I got to start incorporating more of my own Nico Mikola plugs at the end of these shows, just to keep growing the lore of that absolute unit. What a week for him, by the way, a first of $40 million extension and then a special section devoted to him at the end of today's show. Thanks again for doing this with us, Bill. We're going to have to have you back on with us sometime down the road to get into all the stuff we didn't get to today. That is going to be all from Thomas and I for now, but don't worry, because we're going to be back soon with plenty more content as we ramp up here and get ready for the start. of the regular season. If you haven't listened to the Our Guys episode yet, please do so. It's on the feed.

It was our debut episode for the 25, 26 season. We dropped it earlier this week. And it's an annual exercise we do where we essentially just get to nerd out about the players. We're especially excited to watch this year and break down their games and all that fun stuff. So it was a really good exercise to get us going, the perfect note, to start the season on. One quick little programming note before we get out of here, there is a

slight schedule or format change for the show this year. We're still going to be doing two to three new episodes on the usual feed you've been listening to us on each week for years now. So there's no worries there. The difference is that on top of that, we're also going to have two extra episodes each week for all of you sickos who need the extra fix. Those are going to be available exclusively to our Patreon subscribers. So to get in on that and get access to them starting next week, all you have to do is subscribe to the PDOCAST Patreon page. You can do that by either searching the HockeyPedioCast on Patreon, or you can find the link for it in today's show notes and the Discord as well.

If you never use Patreon before, it's a super simple process to get going. You sign up, you subscribe to the show, and then you get a new RSS feed to put into whatever your preferred podcast app is, whether it's Spotify or Apple or PocketCast, and you get access to all of the episodes there every week moving forward. It's going to be something new for us, but it's also going to let us do all sorts of additional fun stuff this season that we've been really wanting to do like live postgame shows for when we get to the Olympics and playoffs in particular. There's going to be a weekly newsletter featuring stuff from myself and also some of the regular guests you've been accustomed to hearing on this program. We're going to do some extra mailbag shows where you can get your questions in.

and hopefully down the line some PDOCAST merch as well. Thank you so much for the continued support. It's going to be a great season. It's awesome to be back. I can't wait to get into the swing of things. All right. In the meantime, keep hitting that five-star review button wherever you listen to the show. Join us in the PDOCast Discord if you haven't already because starting next week,

that's going to be the place you want to be every night. Once we're watching these games, breaking it all down, having fun on a nightly basis and just chatting about everything we're seeing while we're watching. have a great weekend and thank you for listening to a Hockey PDOCast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network