{"id":521326,"date":"2026-03-25T03:10:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/521326\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T03:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:10:49","slug":"radko-gudas-feels-terrible-about-auston-matthews-season-ending-injury-after-controversial-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/521326\/","title":{"rendered":"Radko Gudas feels terrible about Auston Matthews’ season-ending injury after controversial hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Radko Gudas is back from his five-game suspension in the 2025-26 NHL season. To no one\u2019s surprise, it didn\u2019t take long before the Anaheim Ducks\u2018 blueliner was asked about the knee-on-knee hit he delivered on Auston Matthews<\/a>, and that has sidelined the Toronto Maple Leafs\u2018 captain for the remainder of the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hate the way it ended up, the point of contact,\u201d Gudas admitted, via Sportsnet. \u201cI never want to injure anybody out there. I feel terrible about the outcome. I\u2019ve got to learn. I\u2019ve got to be better as a hockey player. It\u2019s very unfortunate. I reached out to [Matthews], too. We spoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gudas\u2019 reputation in the NHL<\/a> has always centered around his aggressive playstyle. It\u2019s no wonder he\u2019s earned the nickname: \u201cThe Butcher\u201d. However, the Ducks<\/a>\u2018 blueliner has found himself in the eye of the storm recently due to two separate injuries to league icons, Sidney Crosby and Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n

Gudas was involved in Crosby\u2019s injury<\/p>\n

During Team Canada\u2019s quarterfinal matchup with Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Gudas finished a check on Crosby, who went down in pain. Contrary to Matthews\u2019 injury, there wasn\u2019t any sign of ill intent from Gudas. <\/p>\n

\"Auston<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews #34 of the Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n

It was more of a freak accident. Crosby was stumbling, and his leg got caught awkwardly. When Gudas hit him high, the lower-body injury occurred. Canada lost its captain and Crosby went on to miss the semifinals, the final, and 11 games in the NHL. <\/p>\n

\"Auston<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews\u2019 net worth: How much money does the Toronto Maple Leafs star own?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

As a result, fans both in the Great White North and the City of Bridges made a public outcry against Gudas. For Canadians in Toronto<\/a>, that sentiment was only magnified after Gudas injured Matthews in a play that looked ugly from the start.<\/p>\n

Gudas\u2019 suspension history<\/p>\n

Due to his style of play, Gudas has often found himself in the receiving end of supplementary discipline and sanctions. So far in his NHL career, the Department of Player Safety has suspended him five times. Indeed, the latest is his first in over seven years, but it\u2019s yet another warning about the Czech enforcer\u2019s reckless tendencies.<\/p>\n

YEARSUSPENSION LENGTHREASON20153 GAMESILLEGAL CHECK TO THE HEAD20166 GAMESINTERFERENCE201710 GAMESSLASHING20192 GAMESHIGH-STICKING20265 GAMESKNEEING<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Radko Gudas is back from his five-game suspension in the 2025-26 NHL season. To no one\u2019s surprise, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,532,1739,5,4,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-521326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim-ducks","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-ducks","10":"tag-anaheimducks","11":"tag-auston-matthews","12":"tag-ducks","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116287631455453345","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521326","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=521326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}