Florida Panthers general manager Bill Zito once again drew a lot of praise on Monday, when the team pulled off contract extensions for Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand just before NHL free agency started. Before that, the Cats had already re-signed Sam Bennett.
However, Zito admitted that he shouldn’t get all the credit for these extensions. Instead, the Panthers GM claims that Marchand, Ekblad, and Bennett were the ones who made it possible.
“I didn’t. It was those guys. There’s no gray area whatsoever. … It’s those guys wanting to be part of something they created,” Zito said about the new contracts, via Panthers’ Digital Content Manager Jameson Olive.
Bill Zito, Panthers defy the odds again
Shortly after joining the list of back-to-back Stanley Cup champions with their second consecutive victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the final, the attention in Sunrise turned to the Panthers’ upcoming free agents.
Sam Bennett #9 of the Florida Panthers celebrates with the Conn Smythe Trophy after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game Six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on June 17, 2025 in Sunrise, Florida.
Marchand, Bennett, and Ekblad were all running out of contract this summer, and keeping all three of them looked like a difficult task since the Panthers had little wiggle room with their salary cap. Then again, being the two-time defending champion and having a great general manager helps.
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How much are the Panthers paying Bennett?
Zito first took care of business with Bennett, handing the 2025 Conn Smythe Trophy winner an eight-year, $64 million contract, which carries $8 million in average annual value.
With the 29-year-old locked in, the Panthers GM moved on to the remaining stars set to hit the open market. It took a while, but Zito pulled it off in an eventful day just hours before the start of free agency.
Ekblad, Marchand take team-friendly deals to stay in Florida
The second star to get a new deal was Ekblad, who accepted an eight-season extension worth $6.1 million per year to stay with the team that selected him first overall in the 2014 NHL entry draft.
When it looked like Ekblad’s deal could cost the Panthers keeping Marchand, the Cats shocked the NHL by handing the veteran star a six-year contract worth just under $32 million, extending his commitment to the Cats till age 43.
The future looks bright in Sunrise
While Zito may not want to take all the credit, it’s hard not to praise him for keeping the Panthers’ core together. Not only did he bring back Bennett, Ekblad, and Marchand this offseason, but he had also secured a number of stars for the foreseeable. These are all the Panthers signed through at least 2030:
- Aleksander Barkov
- Matthew Tkachuk
- Sam Reinhart
- Sam Bennett
- Brad Marchand
- Carter Verhaeghe
- Gustav Forsling
- Anton Lundell
- Aaron Ekblad
- Seth Jones
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