Episode 206 of the Hockey Free For All Podcast 04-10-2026

Hello Hockey Fans, welcome to episode 206 of the Hockey Free For All Podcast. It’s not just about players this week, it’s about General managers and Presidents of hockey clubs that have been relieved of their duties or that have stepped down. #1. Coaching changes in 2026. January 12th 2026 in Columbus, Dean Evason out, Rick Bowness in. March 1st 2026 in Los Angeles, Jim Hiller out, D.J. Smith in.  March 29th in Las Vegas, Bruce Cassidy out, John Tortorella in. April 5th the N.Y. Islanders relieve Patrick Roy of his duties and name Peter DeBoer his replacement. #2. General Manager news. Toronto, March 30th 2026 General Manager Brad Treliving fired. No replacement named as yet. Sunny Mehta looks like the obvious choice. New Jersey, April 6th 2026 Tom Fitzgerald out as General Manager. No replacement named as yet, but one has to wonder if this clears the way for Matin Brodeur to assume the G.M. role as well? #3. Upper executive management of the Toronto Maple Leaf’s want to have far too much involvement in day-to-day operations. #4. Anyone who’s good at what they do wants no part of, or to be involved with any franchise, company or even in any type of relationship, that has any kind of, or any amount of micromanagement within it. #5. The injury list of the Florida Panthers this year is beyond eye opening. Here’s just the highlights Captain Matthew Tkachuk missed 47 games, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Johah Gadjovich all gone for the season and many others gone for weeks or months. #6. Mats Naslund is keeping a close eye on Nick Suzuki, as he approaches the 100-point mark for the first time since Mat’s Naslund achieved it in the 1985/1986 season. Nick Suzuki has 98 and counting with the win against Tampa Bay last night. #7. 41 years since a Montreal Canadiens player has reached 100 points, that is insane. #8. Cole Caufield hits the 50-goal mark in last night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, for the first time since Stephane Richer did in the 1989/1990 season. That too is insane. #9. Juraj Slafkovsky hit’s the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career in the game in last night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.     #10. Dumbest trade proposal yet has Juraj Slofkavsky, Ivan Demidov a 2026 1st round pick, a 2027 1st round pick and Owen Beck to the Toronto Maple Leaf’s, and in return, Montreal received Austin Matthews and Michael Nylander. #11. Not only are Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky better than Matthews or Nylander, but so is Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Noah Dobson, Oliver Kapanen, Michael Hage, Alexander Zharovsky, Bryce Pickford, Adam Engstrom, L.J. Mooney, Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler. #12. President of the Seattle Kraken Ron Francis has stepped down