Ducks’ Radko Gudas slapped with 5-game ban for kneeing Auston Matthews

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas was suspended for five games by the NHL Department of Player Safety on Friday for a knee-on-knee hit that ended Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews’s season.

The Maple Leafs announced Friday that Matthews will miss the rest of the season because of a Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion suffered in their 6-4 win over Anaheim on Thursday night. He’ll be reevaluated in two weeks. The Department of Player Safety had a phone hearing with Gudas, indicating that his possible suspension wouldn’t exceed five games. Suspensions of six or more games are determined via in-person hearings.

Judd Moldaver, the executive VP of the.team agency and Matthews’ agent, criticized the NHL’s decision in a statement to ESPN.

“In light of the obvious severity of the play, I am very disappointed and shocked that the league would allow for such a ruling. A phone hearing and five games is just laughable and preposterous,” Moldaver wrote. “While the hearing process is pre-fixed in our CBA, that there was no further discipline is a reckless and ridiculous position for Player Safety. 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.”

In the second period against the Ducks, Matthews received a pass from William Nylander near the left faceoff circle in Anaheim’s zone. Gudas made a beeline to defend him. As Matthews attempted to stick handle around the Ducks’ defender, Gudas led with his left knee, which collided with Matthews’ left knee.

Matthews immediately fell in pain and was eventually helped off the ice by an athletic trainer and Toronto defenseman Brandon Carlo. Matthews did not return to the game, having gone to the locker room with 4:13 remaining in the period. Matthews had scored a power-play goal, his 27th of the season, earlier in the second.

“It’s a dirty play,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “The league is obviously going to look at it and see what the suspension will be.”

Anaheim coach Joel Quenneville said there was “no premeditation” on the play and that the collision was the result of “reflexes.”

During his hearing Friday, Gudas argued that he was attempting to deliver a full-body check and prevent a goal. But the NHL ruled that the contact was not created by sudden or evasive movements from either player, and that the onus was on Gudas to deliver a legal hit.

“Instead, having led with an extended his knee and finding himself lined up outside of Matthews’ core, Gudas leans towards contact with Matthews in a way that results in a forceful, dangerous and direct knee-on-knee collision,” the NHL said.

Gudas has been suspended four previous times for a total of 21 games in his 14-year NHL career. His longest suspension was 10 games in 2017, while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, for a slash to the head of Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault. Gudas’ most recent suspension was in 2019, when he received two games for a high stick on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov.

The Ducks’ defenseman can appeal the five-game ban.

Gudas, who is Anaheim’s captain, has two goals and 11 assists in 52 games, skating 16:39 on average.

The Matthews incident sparked widespread criticism in Toronto media about the Maple Leafs’ response to the hit. None of the other four players on the ice confronted Gudas as Matthews was writhing in pain.

“It’s on me for not responding earlier to Gudas,” said defenseman Morgan Rielly, one of the Toronto players on the ice at the time. “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.”