Auston Matthews Out for the Season After Knee Injury

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews left Thursday night’s victory against the Anaheim Ducks following a knee-on-knee clash with Radko Gudas, and he won’t be back for the 2025-26 season. On Friday, the Maple Leafs confirmed that Matthews suffered a season-ending MCL tear along with a quad contusion.

During the second period, shortly after Matthews scored a power play goal to narrow the Ducks’ lead to 3-2, he attempted to maneuver around Gudas near the Anaheim net. Unable to deliver a clean hit, Gudas extended his leg into Matthews’ left knee.

Matthews fell immediately in pain, clutching his hurt knee. He eventually needed assistance getting off the ice and heading down the tunnel.

Gudas was given a major penalty for kneeing and received a game misconduct. The NHL Department of Player Safety announced on Friday night that Gudas would face a five-game suspension after his hearing via conference call.

Since Gudas only had a conference call hearing – instead of an in-person one – five games was the maximum punishment he could receive. In an interview with ESPN, Matthews’ agent Judd Moldaver criticized this decision harshly and expressed frustration towards the Department of Player Safety.

“In light of the obvious severity of the play, I am very disappointed and shocked that the league would allow for such a ruling,” Moldaver said. “A phone hearing and five games is just laughable and preposterous. 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.”

Toronto managed to win the game 6-4, but losing Matthews is another hard blow that will probably end what’s been a frustrating season for them. Matthews leads the team with 27 goals and ranks fourth on points with 53. The team’s top-heavy lineup relies on all its stars being healthy and performing well together, which won’t happen moving forward.

If Toronto’s playoff chances weren’t already slim before this incident, losing Matthews for the rest of this season will likely seal their fate.

Maple Leafs Discuss Lack of Reaction to “Dirty” Hit

<p When Matthews went down from that hit, none of his teammates stepped up to confront Gudas at first. Toronto has struggled through much of this 2025-26 season, but it was still surprising not to see anyone rush over to defend their captain.

In postgame press conferences, assistant captains John Tavares and Morgan Rielly labeled the hit as “dirty” while acknowledging that they should have reacted more quickly on behalf of Matthews initially. Rielly took responsibility for not responding sooner.

“I didn’t have a good view of it just because the puck was going the other way, but it’s on me for not responding earlier to Gudas,” Rielly said. “It’s a dirty hit. I didn’t understand how bad he got him in the moment. I take full responsibility for not being the first one in there or the first one to respond.. Ultimately, when your captain goes down like that on a dirty play, you have to respond as a group. I also take responsibility for not being there right away after that hit.”

The team did show some physicality later in third period when Easton Cowan fought Ducks defenseman Jackson La Combe; overall both teams accumulated 48 penalty minutes combined during that time. Toronto coach Craig Berube appreciated this effort but admitted that those four players who were on ice at Matthew’s injury should have reacted sooner.

“We should’ve had four guys in there doing something about it,” Berube said. “It didn’t happen then; however I thought we responded well in third period afterward-it was good-but we’d like everyone getting involved right away.”

Typically it wouldn’t be fair to judge how well an entire team responds based solely on one brief moment following an ugly hit against its captain; however Toronto has repeatedly failed these crucial moments throughout this season which explains why they’re eight points out from playoff contention with only 19 games left ahead still needing played. Their lackluster immediate response isn’t exactly unusual behavior among players wearing Maple Leaf uniforms this year.

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