Matt Ross: Bill Zito Appears to Win GM Gig

I have no confidence in the guys making the decision

I wish we'd see an owner try flipping the .org chart at some point and see what happens if the GM (officially) reports to the coach. Let the coach hire a GM he can work with. Maybe that kinda happened here without the org chart being modified?

Throw in a team president that steers the ship long term (but has no say in OPS) and see what happens after a few years.

Matt Ross: Bill Zito Appears to Win GM Gig
- Matt Ross

Great hire, him and Jarmo Kekaleinen were a two headed think tank , Bednar, JD and now Zito, huge loss of expertise but it also means the cbj were trending in the right direction. If anyone can fix the Panthers he will.

Sad to see Billy Z. leave. He did so much good stuff in the Columbus community that went unnoticed. If there is any indication of the type of hard work he does just realize he left an agency he founded to start at the bottom and work his way up through front office gigs. Did wonders for AHL Cleveland. He handled a lot of contract negotiations here and those haven't always been seen in a positive light (Josh Anderson and Ryan Johansen to name a couple). Not sure if he had a hand in those but it is something to think about.

Seeing nothing but good things about Zito from Columbus fans here and other sites.
Coming from Columbus, maybe we can assume improving the D corps will take priority.

Sounds like a “bob” decision to me

I have no confidence in the guys making the decision
- harveykline

Chalk it up to the luck of a blind squirrel, or whatever, but it seems like they made a good hire.

Great hire, him and Jarmo Kekaleinen were a two headed think tank , Bednar, JD and now Zito, huge loss of expertise but it also means the cbj were trending in the right direction. If anyone can fix the Panthers he will.
- Alexzanki

Thanks for the feedback, Alexzank!

Sad to see Billy Z. leave. He did so much good stuff in the Columbus community that went unnoticed. If there is any indication of the type of hard work he does just realize he left an agency he founded to start at the bottom and work his way up through front office gigs. Did wonders for AHL Cleveland. He handled a lot of contract negotiations here and those haven't always been seen in a positive light (Josh Anderson and Ryan Johansen to name a couple). Not sure if he had a hand in those but it is something to think about.
- PoppaBurgundy91

Appreciate you chiming in. Great news hearing all the good stuff from CBJ fans/outsiders in general about him.

Excited to see what he does.

Seeing nothing but good things about Zito from Columbus fans here and other sites.
Coming from Columbus, maybe we can assume improving the D corps will take priority.
- Ratsreign

Let’s hope so, Rats!

hey Matt,

what do you think the plan is in Florida? is it a re tool to compete? shed salary while trying to compete? rebuild?