from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

The relationship between Bill Zito and Brett Peterson goes back to when the two met for a cup of coffee in Chicago more than a decade ago. Zito was working as an agent for Acme Sports at the time and was running a summer camp for clients in the area. Zito clients Patrick and Ben Eaves asked Zito if Peterson, a defenseman who was bouncing around the minors at the time, could take part in the camp. The Eaves brothers then urged Zito to meet with Peterson to gauge his interest in becoming an agent.

“We’re having a coffee and all of a sudden he’s like, ‘Yeah, I was wondering if you’d represent me,’ ” Zito recalled. “And I’m thinking, “Aw, man, that’s all I need, another East Coast League guy.’ What am I going to say? No?”

Peterson went on to play one more unspectacular season in 2008-09, splitting his time among the American and International Leagues and the ECHL, but the bond he and Zito formed stuck. Zito went on to hire Peterson to work with him at the agency and then plucked him out of the agent ranks to be one of his two assistant GMs with the Florida Panthers. And in doing so, he made Peterson the first Black assistant GM in NHL history. Just days after Kim Ng became the first woman in history to be named GM of a Major League Baseball team, the front offices in sports leagues are opening up. In the next couple of days, it’s expected that former NHLer Joel Ward will be named an assistant coach with the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL, the primary affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights.

continued