The Toronto Maple Leafs announced captain Auston Matthews will not play again this season after Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas kneed him on Thursday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs provided an update on Friday evening regarding the injury Auston Matthews suffered on Thursday.
The captain sustained a Grade 3 MCL tear and a quad contusion from the knee-on-knee collision he took from Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas.
The Leafs said Matthews will be re-evaluated in two weeks, but he will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 regular season.
Gudas, Anaheim's captain, received a phone hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety. Therefore, the length of his suspension could be five games at most.
The Ducks' D-man lunged into Matthews with his left knee stuck out, colliding with Matthews' left knee. Gudas received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing.
Matthews, 28, will not be available for the last 16 outings that Toronto has to finish off this campaign.
His season ends after 60 games for the Maple Leafs. He recorded 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points. He also had a minus-four rating and averaged 20:48 of ice time.
With his campaign cut short, this will be the first season since being drafted in 2016 where Matthews didn't score at least 30 goals. In fact, this is also the fewest games he's played in an 82-game season, and he posted career lows in goals and points across all his 10 NHL seasons.
The Leafs are third-last in the Eastern Conference. They sit 11 points out of a playoff spot and five points from the bottom spot in the East.
The team also ranks 25th overall ahead of Friday's games. If their first-round draft pick in 2026 ends up in the top five, the Leafs get to keep it and transfer a first-round pick in a later year to the Boston Bruins. Otherwise, the Bruins get the Leafs' first-round pick this season as part of last year's Brandon Carlo trade.
While Matthews' Leafs likely won't make the playoffs this season, he did achieve international success as captain of Team USA at the Olympics. The American men's team won gold over Canada in the final, and Matthews picked up three goals and seven points in six games at the tournament.
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