Sunrise, Fla. — The National Hockey League today announced that Biljito, president and general manager of the Florida Panthers’ hockey business, has been named a finalist for the 2024-25 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, presented annually to “the best general manager.” Another finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award are Kevin Chevle Dayoff (Winnipeg Jets) and Jimnil (Dallas Stars).
The nomination represents the fourth finalist nomination for GM of the Year in five years at the helm of the Florida Panthers, with the Cats reaching the playoffs in at least the second round of the last four seasons. The Jeet’s Panthers faced the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals, showing their third consecutive appearance in Florida’s Conference Finals.
Throughout the first two rounds of the postseason, 17 different Panthers scored at least one goal, 21 Florida skaters scored at least one point, and five different cats scored at least 10 points. The Panthers owned 89.5% penalty kills (34/38), averaged 3.75 goals per game, surrendering only 2.42 goals per game throughout the first two rounds.
Following last season’s championship campaign, Zito quickly worked to ensure that Florida’s Stanley Cup winning team’s core pieces remain in South Florida for years to come.
Sam Reinhart has signed an eight-year contract extension following a 57-goal regular-season campaign and a 10-goal postseason run, including a game-winning goal against Edmonton in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. Reinhart tracked the stellar 2024 campaign, which again led Florida with goals (39), power play goals (13), shorthanded goals (5), and points (81), and was named Panthers Captain Alexander Barkov as the Frank J. Serke Trophy finalist. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in 2007-08. Reinhart led all the Panthers with six points (2-4-6) in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, adding five more (2-3-5) against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round. Carter Verhaege signed an eight-year extension after leading Florida with 11 goals in the 2024 postseason and 72 points in the regular season, continuing his campaign in 2024-25 for the fourth straight 20 goal season. Verhaeghe scored eight points (4-4-8) in the 2025 postseason in two rounds. Anton Landell signed a six-year contract extension after scoring his fourth point (17) for Florida during the 2024 postseason, following his performance with a career-high 45 points (17-28-45) in the 2024-25 regular season. Throughout the two rounds of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Randell has put together a 10-point (4-6-10) and a plus-9 rating in 12 games. Dmitry Kulikov agreed to a four-year contract extension and helped Reinhart score goal skate in all 24 postseason games last year, the 2009 Panthers Draft Selection recorded a plus 12 rating of over 70 games in 2024-25, with 13 points (4-9-13). Kulikov produced four points (1-3-4) in the first two rounds of the 2025 playoffs.
In addition to keeping Florida’s top talent, Jeet and his staff strengthened the Panthers for the 2024 offseason after losing several key pieces of the Stanley Cup winning team in free agency. Florida signed veteran Blue Liners Nate Schmidt and Jacob Megna to transfer AJ Greer, Jesper Bocvist and Thomas Nose. Schmidt contributed 19 points (5-14-19) from Blue Line skating in 80 games, taking the team’s lead by defensive men three times (3-4-7 at 12 gp). Greer led Florida with 222 hits in the regular season, scoring a career-high 17 points (6-11-17), while Boqvist recorded a career-high 23 points (12-11-23)) in the regular season, agreeing to a two-year contract extension with the club.
At the NHL trade deadline, Zito made a big move to solidify the Panthers and solidify the Panthers’ depth to acquire Seth Jones, Brad Merchand, Nicos Starm and Vitek Vanesek.
In the regular season, Jones skated in 21 games, with Florida scoring nine points and scoring 24:55 hours with the cat during the final quarter of the campaign. Throughout the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Jones averaged on the ice at Team High 25:45, contributing six points (3-3-6) in 12 games, including two points (1-1-2) in Game 7 vs Toronto.
After recovering from his injury, Merchand skated in 10 regular-season games with the Cats, tied up with 12 points (3-9-12) in the postseason in the first two rounds with 12 points (3-9-12). The line, which was concentrated by Randell (4-6-10), attracted 34 points and plus 31 ratings in Florida’s first 12 playoff games in 2025. Luostarinen scored four points (1-3-4) with three points (1-3-4) on Tampa Bay and Marchand Led Florida.
Sturm appeared in 15 regular season games in Florida and seven playoff games, moving all Florida forward in the first two rounds of three minutes of shorthand on the ice game per game in the postseason. Vanecek posted a shutout in his first regular season game with Buffalo and the Panthers on March 8, stopping all 21 shots he faced.
2025 Stanley Cup Playoff Eastern Conference Finals Single Game Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased from SeatGeek.com or the Amerant Bank Arena Box Office (Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm). Fans interested in season ticket membership for the 2025-26 season are encouraged to join the waitlist by clicking here to visit floridapanthers.com/tickets or calling Puckline (954.835.puck).
