ACME World Sports hockey agent Bill Zito has joined the Blue Jackets as Assistant GM “after spending weeks breaking ties with players and divesting his interest in the agency he helped found,” according to Aaron Portzline of the COLUMBUS DISPATCH. Zito co-founded ACME in ’95 with current Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen and had “emerged as one of the NHL’s top agents during the past two decades.” Kekalainen said that Zito will head the team’s pro scouting department and “play a heavy role in scouting and signing college players." Zito: “I want to apply what I’ve learned the last 20 years to a different entity, and I want to try and win something. To work in this league ... it’s a privilege.” Portzline notes Zito’s hiring “required extensive legal maneuverings and NHL approval.” Recent rankings by Forbes.com had ACME “as the eighth-most powerful agency in the NHL” with $194.1M in active contracts among all clients. Blue Jackets D James Wisniewski, a former Zito client, said that he was “planning to remain with ACME,” relying on ACME co-Founder & President Markus Lehto “as his primary agent.” Early signs “suggest Zito’s other former clients will do the same” (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 8/13). Other former clients of Zito include free agent G Tim Thomas, Bruins G Tuukka Rask and Flyers D Kimmo Timonen (CP, 8/12).
