Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
The Leafs announced on Friday that Matthews suffered a grade 3 level MCL tear in addition to a bruised quadriceps muscle after taking a hit from Anaheim defenceman Radko Gudas on Thursday. Gudas was assessed a major penalty and subsequently ejected from the game.
The NHL announced that the veteran blue liner would have a phone hearing with the league, meaning he could face up to a 5 game suspension. Gudas is no stranger to the department of player safety, having been suspended 4 times previously.
In total, the 35 year old has been suspended for 21 games, and forfeited over $750K in salary over the course of his career. And that’s before the league announces any supplemental discipline for his hit on Matthews.
Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube didn’t mince words after his team’s 6-4 victory, both in terms of what he thought of the play as well as his team’s lack of a response following the hit.
“It’s a dirty play,” Berube said. “We should have had four guys in there doing something about it … we all would have liked everyone to get in there right away.”
Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly understood where his coach was coming from and expressed his desire to have a do-over on how the team handled the aftermath of the hit.
“I didn’t have a good view of it just because the puck was going the other way,” he said. “But it’s on me for not responding earlier to Gudas. Obviously it’s a dirty hit. I didn’t understand how bad he got him in the moment, but I take full responsibility for not being the first one in there or not being in there quicker to respond.”
“That being said, I thought our group played well in the third and ultimately was able to respond. But, ultimately, when your captain goes down like that on a dirty play, you have to respond as a group. But I also take responsibility for not being the first one in there after the hit.”
With Toronto sporting a 28-27-11 record, the club is currently 3rd to last in the Eastern Conference, giving them little incentive to rush Matthews back into the lineup. As a result, the 28 year old will finish his season with 53 points across 60 games for the Leafs.
Toronto has the day off on Friday before taking on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
Photo: Azadeh Kashani. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.