Radko Gudas hearing puts NHL Player Safety in the spotlight after Auston Matthews hit
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Radko Gudas is headed for an official NHL Player Safety hearing after his knee-on-knee on Auston Matthews, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are waiting on a ruling.
Thursday night got ugly fast, and it got loud even faster when Matthews went down clutching his left leg.
The Toronto Maple Leafs managed to still win 6-4, yet, the win felt secondary the moment their captain needed help to get off the ice.
Gudas was assessed a major for kneeing and a game misconduct, and that tells you the officials saw the same thing everyone else did.
Toronto's room is already running hot because this is the kind of play the league says it wants out of the game.
Here's the clip that set it all off.
Matthews had just snapped a 12-game goal drought earlier in the game, which made the exit sting even more.
He came into the night with 26-26-52 in 60 games, and the Leafs simply do not have a clean replacement for that level of offense.
Radko Gudas forces the Toronto Maple Leafs to sweat
Leafs fans are furious, not just at the hit, but at the familiar feeling that star players pay the price while the wheel spins.
A phone hearing matters because it usually signals the ceiling on the suspension, and Player Safety now has to justify whatever number lands on the paper.
Toronto is now 28-27-11, clinging to hope, and every missed Matthews game changes their math in a hurry.
Anaheim is 36-26-3, and losing Gudas for any stretch would punch a hole in their minutes on the blue line.
Gudas is 35, drafted in 2010, Round 3, by the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he's built his career on living on the edge.
The NHL's decision now becomes a statement, not just about one collision, but about whether kneeing is treated like a true line in the sand.
If Player Safety goes light, expect this to linger, in Toronto, in Anaheim, and across the league, right into the Leafs' next game.
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| POLL | ||
MARS 13|106 ANSWERS Radko Gudas hearing puts NHL Player Safety in the spotlight after Auston Matthews hit Should the NHL suspend Radko Gudas for the hit on Auston Matthews? | ||
| Yes | 102 | 96.2 % |
| No | 4 | 3.8 % |
| List of polls | ||