The Toronto Maple Leafs announced that star center Auston Matthews is out for the rest of the 2025-26 season due to the knee-on-knee hit he took from Anaheim Ducks defender Radko Gudas on Thursday night.
Matthews, who suffered the injury in the second period of Toronto’s 6-4 win, sustained a “Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion” that is set to be reevaluated in two weeks. The Maple Leafs have 16 games remaining on their schedule and currently sit 14th of 16 teams in the Eastern Conference standings.
Gudas is set to have a phone hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for his hit on Matthews, meaning he will be suspended for 5 games or fewer for the play.
On the ice, Gudas received a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for the hit. He has been suspended four times since the 2015-16 season, missing 21 games in total. Two of those suspensions were for more than five games: six games in October 2016 for a late, high hit against Austin Czarnik, and 10 games in November 2017 for slashing Mathieu Perreault in the neck.
“It’s a dirty play,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said postgame. “The league’s gonna obviously look at it, and we’ll see what the suspension will be or whatever happens.”
Berube also criticized his team for not immediately jumping to Matthews’ defense after the hit occurred. Gudas was able to get off the ice without any retribution from a Maple Leafs player.
“Obviously, we should have had four guys in there doing something about it, but it didn’t happen then,” Berube said. “I thought they responded in the third. It was a good response there, but we all would have liked everybody to get in there right away.”
Matthews has struggled to find his past star form this season, recording just 53 points (27g, 26a) in 60 games. Minutes before his injury, he had broken a 12-game goalless streak with a one-timer on the power play.
The Maple Leafs and Ducks play again on March 30 in Anaheim.
Update: Gudas has been suspended five games by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
