Ducks Captain Radko Gudas Knees Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews; Matthews Out for Season

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will miss the remainder of the 2025–26 NHL season after suffering a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, the team announced Friday.

“Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn knee ligament in a game against the Anaheim Ducks, the NHL club said Friday”

CP24

Multiple reports confirm that the injury removes Matthews, the Leafs’ captain and a central offensive leader, from the lineup for the rest of the campaign.

CP24

The team said Matthews will be re-evaluated in two weeks but that the immediate prognosis is that he is out for the season.

The injury followed a knee-on-knee collision with Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas during Toronto’s 6–4 win over Anaheim, when Matthews was driven to the ice and remained down before being helped to the locker room.

League officials assessed a major penalty and ejection to Gudas on the play; the hit occurred as Matthews attempted a move in the slot in the second period.

ESPN

The Washington Post and other outlets framed the sequence as occurring less than 24 hours before the team’s official injury update.

The Maple Leafs specified the diagnosis as a Grade 3 medial collateral ligament (MCL) tear in Matthews’ left knee, accompanied by a bruised quadriceps muscle, and noted he will undergo re-evaluation in two weeks.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness By Associated Press TORONTO — Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and will miss the rest of the NHL season”

The Washington Post

The club’s social media update and multiple reports reiterate the Grade 3 severity and the immediate medical plan, underlining that the injury is significant enough to end Matthews’ season.

Matthews’ absence also removes a leading scorer and the team’s captain from a lineup that has struggled in the Eastern Conference.

Disciplinary action followed quickly: Gudas received a major penalty and game misconduct on the play and was subsequently suspended for five games for kneeing, the maximum the NHL’s Department of Safety could impose in a remote, phone hearing.

Reports note that the suspension length was limited by the mode of the hearing and that Gudas faced the Department of Player Safety as the league reviewed the incident.

ESPN

The Ducks captain’s hearing and the five-game ban were reported as immediate league responses to the hit.

Players and coaches reacted strongly after the game: Leafs coach Craig Berube called the hit “a dirty play,” and teammates and commentators pointed to Gudas’s history of physical, sometimes penalized plays.

“Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 NHL season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, the team announced Friday”

ESPN

Coverage highlighted Gudas as a hard-nosed, physical defender with prior suspensions — including a 10-game ban in 2017–18 — and noted that some Leafs players said he has made similar impactful hits in the past.

CP24

The incident and Matthews’ season-ending injury have become a focal point in discussions about player safety and on-ice discipline.