Auston Matthews’ season is over for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But the man who knocked him out for an entire year with a violent, illegal knee strike, Radko Gudas, will be back before you know it. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety suspended Gudas for five games. And Matthews’ agent doesn’t like it at all.
The collision caused Matthews to suffer a Grade 3 MCL tear, leaving him writhing in pain on the ice. His agent, Judd Moldaver, was very clear about how he felt about the league’s decision to suspend the multiple-time offender for just five games.
Matthews’ agent fumes after soft decision on Gudas
“Given the obvious seriousness of the game, I am disappointed and shocked that the league would allow such a decision.
Listening to one phone and playing 5 games is ridiculous and absurd.
While the process is set out in our CBA, this discipline is reckless and ridiculous. As a result of this decision all players have further lost confidence in the disciplinary process. The players and fans deserve better. The player safety department should be suspended.”
Gudas has been suspended by the NHL four previous times for violent attacks that resulted in injuries. He received a 3-Gamer for Headshot in 2015; 6-game suspension for “interference” in 2016; Mathieu Perreault served a hefty 10-game ban in 2017 due to a neck injury; And 2nd-gamer in 2019 for high-sticking Nikita Kucherov.
The unanimous reaction from around the hockey world is that this five-game suspension is a joke… “laughable,” as Matthews’ agent aptly put it.
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