Leafs call for harsher punishment of Gudas for hit on Matthews - ESPN

The Toronto Maple Leafs don't believe the NHL went far enough in punishing Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas for a hit that ended star captain Auston Matthews' season.

The NHL Department of Player Safety handed Gudas a five-game suspension on Friday for «a forceful, dangerous and direct knee-on-knee collision» with Matthews in the second period of Toronto's win over the Ducks on Thursday night. Matthews had to be helped from the ice. The Leafs announced Friday that their 28-year-old captain will miss the rest of their season because of a Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion.

«I think the league could've done a little bit more, seeing as our best player [and] our captain [is] not going to be with us for the rest of the year. That's a big loss,» said forward Matthew Knies, a linemate with Matthews this season.

Leafs players noted that Gudas had a previous suspension history with the NHL, having been banned four times for a total of 21 games during his 14-year NHL career. His last suspension came in 2019, when he received two games for a high stick on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov.

Veteran center John Tavares said the suspension «could have easily been longer» given that history and the extent of Matthews' injury.

«I believe Auston's been ruled out for quite a while, right? So it's going to [miss] more than five games, so it easily could've been longer. Can't say five games is nothing, but it could have been longer,» he said.

Coach Craig Berube agreed.

«Looking at it, we lose our guy, our captain for the year. It doesn't seem like enough for me. You lose your star player for the year. The guy doing it is a repeat offender. It just doesn't seem like enough,» he said.

Matthews had 27 goals and 26 assists in 60