{"id":507109,"date":"2026-03-17T02:54:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/507109\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T02:54:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T02:54:01","slug":"brady-tkachuk-backs-auston-matthews-while-calling-out-leafs-lack-of-response-after-shocking-injury-incident-nhl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/507109\/","title":{"rendered":"Brady Tkachuk backs Auston Matthews while calling out Leafs\u2019 lack of response after shocking injury incident | NHL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BradyBrady Tkachuk and Auston Matthews (Getty Images) Brady Tkachuk did not need long to weigh in once Auston Matthews went down. The Toronto Maple Leafs captain\u2019s injury stirred more than concern. It raised a question that lingers in every locker room. Who answers when your star gets hit like that?Last week\u2019s collision with Radko Gudas left Auston Matthews with a knee injury and ended his season. The response, or lack of it, became the story just as much as the hit itself. And from Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, the message was clear. Silence on the ice speaks loudly.<\/p>\n

Brady Tkachuk questions Leafs\u2019 response after Auston Matthews injury: why accountability matters in the moment<\/p>\n

Tkachuk addressed the situation on the Wingmen Podcast, where he often shares unfiltered thoughts alongside his brother, Matthew Tkachuk. The NHL had already handed Gudas a five game suspension, but for Tkachuk, that was only part of it. What happens in real time still matters.\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m happy I\u2019m not the leader of player safety, because it feels like what decision you make, somebody\u2019s going to be upset,\u201d Tkachuk said.He did not stop there. His focus shifted quickly from league discipline to player responsibility. Hockey has always carried that unwritten code, even as the game evolves.\u201cIf somebody is going to do that and stuff like that, I feel like a lot of that is just you\u2019ve got to police it yourselves during the game. And during that play, your captain gets taken out like that, I mean, gotta have a way better response. Personally, I know how I\u2019d feel if I got hit like that and nobody really jumped in there, I\u2019d be pretty pissed. I love the way Auston plays.\u201dTkachuk knows Matthews beyond rivalry lines. They shared the ice for Team USA at the Winter Games in Italy not long ago and came away with gold. There is respect there, and maybe that is why his words carried a sharper edge.The Leafs, meanwhile, have faced growing criticism. No one stepped in. No immediate pushback. In a league where emotion often drives momentum, that absence stood out.\u201cI\u2019ve been in that position before,\u201d Tkachuk added. \u201cYou\u2019re pissed off you\u2019re in that spot and you have that natural anger, and you want to take it out. That was the perfect opportunity to stand up for your captain \u2026 just didn\u2019t see it.\u201dAll of this now drifts into Saturday night, when Ottawa hosts Toronto at the Canadian Tire Centre. The temperature around that game feels a little higher. Not because of standings, but because of something less measurable. Pride, response, and the memory of a moment that still has not settled.\"Banner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brady Tkachuk and Auston Matthews (Getty Images) Brady Tkachuk did not need long to weigh in once Auston…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[532,10775,536,5,20,5172,4,25,9464,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-507109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-auston-matthews","9":"tag-auston-matthews-injury","10":"tag-brady-tkachuk","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-maple-leafs","13":"tag-mapleleafs","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-ottawa-senators","16":"tag-radko-gudas","17":"tag-toronto","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","19":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116242263083821951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507109","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=507109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}