{"id":502614,"date":"2026-03-14T06:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T06:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/502614\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T06:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T06:45:17","slug":"maple-leafs-auston-matthews-done-for-season-after-dirty-play-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/502614\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs\u2019 Auston Matthews done for season after \u2018dirty play\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews is out for the season.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs star suffered a Grade 3 MCL tear in his left knee and a bruised quadriceps muscle after a knee-on-knee hit by Radko Gudas<\/a> during Toronto\u2019s win over the Ducks on Thursday, taking him out for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

After that game, Toronto coach Craig Berube ripped Gudas for the play on Matthews.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a dirty play,\u201d Berube said of the hit. \u201cLeague\u2019s going to obviously look at it and see what the suspension will be or whatever happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Anaheim<\/p>\n

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas (7) looks at an injured Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) after he delivered a knee-on-knee hit during the second period at Scotiabank Arena. John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Gudas, who played for Team Czechia during the Winter Olympics, also hurt Team Canada\u2019s Sidney Crosby in a collision, which sidelined Crosby for at least one month<\/a> with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n

He was set to have a telephone hearing with the NHL\u2019s Player Safety department on Friday to determine a possible suspension for the hit on Matthews.<\/p>\n

Before that game, Gudas spoke specifically about slowing down Matthews.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go to be on top of him,\u201d Gudas said. \u201cWe got to make sure that he doesn\u2019t get space in the middle of the ice \u2026 make his night\u2019s not enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The injury is a massive blow for Toronto, which has disappointed this season, sitting at 28-27-11 and in last place in the Atlantic Division heading into Friday\u2019s play.<\/p>\n

\"Toronto<\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs Auston Matthews (34) is injured by Anaheim Ducks Radko Gudas (7) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Thursday, March 12, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Barring a red-hot finish to the season, the Maple Leafs are set to miss the postseason for the first time since 2015-16.<\/p>\n

Matthews, the Maple Leafs\u2019 all-time and single-season goals leader, had 27 goals and 26 assists in 60 games this season before going down with the MCL injury.<\/p>\n

He is in the midst of a four-year, $53 million extension that runs through the 2027\u201328 season.<\/p>\n

The 2016 first overall pick has spent his entire career in Toronto, winning the 2021-22 Hart Memorial Trophy and three scoring titles.<\/p>\n

He served as a captain for Team USA en route to their first gold medal since 1980<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auston Matthews Auston Matthews is out for the season. The Maple Leafs star suffered a Grade 3 MCL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5116],"tags":[233,532,193,192,144,5277,825,5,4,9464,768,66,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-502614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-auston-matthews","10":"tag-avalanche","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-avalanche","13":"tag-coloradoavalanche","14":"tag-craig-berube","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-radko-gudas","18":"tag-sidney-crosby","19":"tag-toronto","20":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116226184608642231","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}