{"id":508454,"date":"2026-03-17T21:29:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/508454\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:29:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:29:18","slug":"leafs-profess-to-have-their-teammates-backs-while-questions-around-gudas-suspension-swirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/508454\/","title":{"rendered":"Leafs profess to have their teammates\u2019 backs, while questions around Gudas suspension swirl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Troy Stecher said that he and his teammates have discussed the need to come to each other’s defence after captain Auston Matthews was lost for the season in last week’s game against Anaheim.Lynne Sladky\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The hit that knocked Auston Matthews out for the season<\/a> may be yesterday\u2019s news, but the ripple effects from the knee-on-knee collision caused by Anaheim\u2019s Radko Gudas show little signs of dying down.<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019<\/a> effete response to watching their captain leave last Thursday\u2019s game with what ultimately turned out to be torn knee ligaments has been grist for talking-head mills right across North America, while the reaction to the five-game suspension handed down to Gudas has also been predictably pointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a conversation in here,\u201d defenceman Troy Stecher said Tuesday morning before the team\u2019s game against the New York Islanders. \u201cLike, we would have loved a response right away. We\u2019re disappointed there wasn\u2019t [any]. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo a man we all looked in the mirror, and it\u2019s unacceptable, especially, like, it\u2019s magnified because it was Matthews, obviously. He\u2019s our captain, he\u2019s our best player, a world-class player. But if that happened to [Jacob] Quillan or [Steven] Lorentz or a Stecher or, it doesn\u2019t matter, you still need your guys in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leafs captain Auston Matthews will miss rest of the NHL season due to knee injury<\/a><\/p>\n

As Stecher also pointed out though, the team has moved on from that victory over Anaheim last Thursday, losing in a shootout in Buffalo on Saturday night before winning in Minnesota on Sunday. The Leafs are still a long shot to make the postseason, however, entering Tuesday night\u2019s games 11 points back of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Still, Craig Berube \u2013 the only active head coach in the National Hockey League with over 3,000 penalty minutes to his name \u2013 is hardly one looking to brush what happened last week against the Ducks under the carpet. And that\u2019s before you factor in the Leafs\u2019 return engagement with Gudas in Anaheim in 12 days\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something we\u2019ve talked about almost daily, about getting in there for each other and being physical and hard to play against,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen somebody takes advantage of [us] \u2026 just the other night with the goaltender in Buffalo, [Oliver Ekman-Larsson] is right in there and we have everybody in there. That\u2019s what we need to look like all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tkachuk brothers \u2013 Florida winger Matthew and Ottawa captain Brady \u2013 both used their Wingmen podcast to turn the crank on Monday. The pair came to the verbal defence of Matthews, rallying around the Team USA captain with whom they won Olympic gold just a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, screw the points; it\u2019s more important in a game like that to stick up for a guy than actually win, especially when you\u2019re that far out of [the] playoffs,\u201d Matthew Tkachuk said. \u201cI think the code there is nobody is coming out of that game without getting hit or a least a little left jab to the face after that. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews (34) had his season ended on this knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim Ducks’ defenceman Radko Gudas (7) this past Thusday.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean that should be a scrum after every single whistle, but I don\u2019t know, Brady and I are pretty old school in the way we think. I mean, me and Brady would not have lasted that game if we were on the Leafs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suspension to Gudas also came under the microscope. According to Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving had contacted the league to push for a longer suspension for Gudas, particularly in light of the calibre of player that had his season ended prematurely.<\/p>\n

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid came to the defence of the department of player safety on Monday, saying that department head George Parros and those that work there have a tough job on their hands. McDavid did add that maybe the league and the players could get together to see if there\u2019s a better way to reach consensus over player discipline that results in less disconnect.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs sign goaltender Artur Akhtyamov to three-year contract extension<\/a><\/p>\n

In the wake of McDavid\u2019s comments, Parros defended the process that arrived at the five-game suspension for Gudas, praising the hockey experience of those who make the disciplinary decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur process, I feel very confident in,\u201d Parros said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got great guys who make these decisions, and I think the players should be confident in this team to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, former Leafs captain John Tavares, skating in his 17th NHL season, sided with the Oilers captain on Tuesday, saying, \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty evident that discussion should be had.\u201d <\/p>\n

And Stecher, who was playing alongside McDavid earlier this season before being claimed off waivers by Toronto, backed up the pair of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cConnor put it the best way,\u201d the Leafs defenceman said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like every decision there\u2019s a little bit of frustration from both sides. So it\u2019s not to say that we got to, like, reroute the whole safety department, but maybe let\u2019s get together and talk and find a better solution to what\u2019s going on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Troy Stecher said that he and his teammates have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1018,2210,233,5292,1001,1019,967,991,1020,19,990,1008,1009,1004,992,989,1739,1014,1016,1013,1007,1000,1030,993,994,1006,5,1002,1003,997,1021,998,1025,1026,4,1028,1023,1027,786,1024,995,1011,1012,333,1010,1022,86,1015,1017,1005,999,996,1029],"class_list":["post-508454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim-ducks","tag-alberta","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheimducks","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-ducks","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-hockey","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-nhl","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508454","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=508454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}