Radko Gudas has been suspended five games for kneeing Auston Matthews on Thursday night. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced its ruling Friday evening.
Gudas had a phone hearing with the league, which meant he could only be suspended for up to five games for the infraction.
The Maple Leafs announced earlier on Friday that Matthews would miss the team’s remaining 16 games this season with an MCL tear and a quad contusion.
In response to the five-game suspension for Gudas, Matthews’s agent Judd Moldaver released the following statement to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
In light of the obvious severity of the play, I am disappointed and shocked the league would allow such a ruling. A phone hearing and 5 games is laughable and preposterous.
While the process is set in our CBA, that this was the discipline is reckless and ridiculous.
This decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players.
Players and fans deserve better. The Player Safety Department should be suspended.
Player Safety noted that Gudas’s prior suspension history, four suspensions totalling 21 games since the 2015-16 season, was considered when determining his supplemental discipline for this hit. On the ice, Gudas received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct.
“In an attempt to make a defensive play on Matthews, Gudas leads with his knee, jutting it forward, and making forceful, direct contact with Matthews, causing him to fall to the ice,” the league explains. “It is important to note that Gudas is in control of this play. We acknowledge Gudas’s assertion that he is attempting to make a full body check and prevent a goal, but this contact cannot be excused as a play in which evasive or sudden movements by either player are the primary cause of the knee-on-knee contact.”
Gudas will miss games against the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Utah Mammoth, and Buffalo Sabres. He will first be eligible to return against the Vancouver Canucks on March 24. He’ll lose $104,166.65 in pay, which will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Here’s the press release from the NHL:
Gudas suspended 5 games for actions in Ducks game
Defenseman banned for kneeing Maple Leafs forward Matthews, who is out rest of season
NEW YORK — Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas has been suspended for five games, without pay, for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews during NHL Game No. 1029 in Toronto on Thursday, March 12, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.
The incident occurred at 15:43 of the second period. Gudas was assessed a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Gudas will forfeit $104,166.65. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
