‘I never want to injure anyone’: Gudas speaks on Matthews hit
Radko Gudas is finally returning to play after a knee-on-knee hit to Auston Matthews resulted in a season-ending injury for the Toronto Maple Leafs captain and a five-game suspension to the Anaheim Ducks captain, and to no one’s surprise, Gudas does not look back on the hit well.
The Ducks defenseman spoke with the media ahead of his first game back, a Tuesday night showdown with the Vancouver Canucks, and spoke about how much he regrets the hit.
Radko Gudas says he feels terrible about the hit that injured Auston Matthews as he returns from his suspension tonight. (@imacSportsnet) sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/du…
“I really hate the way it ended up, the point of contact,” Gudas said ahead of Tuesday’s game. “I’m not a fan of that. I never want to injure anybody out there. It’s a hard-fought game. It’s just, yeah, I never want to go out there and hurt anybody. I feel terrible about the outcome. I just committed to the play, and unfortunately that was the point of contact.”
The play in question occurred late in the second period of the Ducks’ 6-4 loss to the Leafs on March 12th. Matthews was set up with a scoring chance in front of the net off a Ducks turnover, and Radko Gudas, who was out of position, made a desperate attempt to make a play on Matthews, with their knees being the primary point of contact. Matthews was down on the ice for quite some time and needed assistance to the room.
“I didn’t like the point of contact, either,” Gudas said. “That’s what I’m looking at; I’ve got to respect… I’ve got to learn. I’ve got to be better as a hockey player. I never want to go out there and hurt anybody. It’s very unfortunate. I reached out to him, too. We spoke. I never want to see anybody get hurt, so I feel terrible about that.”
While Gudas has been suspended for a total of 26 games over the course of his career, this suspension was his first since 2019, a sign he had been cleaning up his act prior to the hit.
“I’ve tried to stay on the good side,” Gudas said. “I stayed for a long time, over seven years since my last incident. So I’m doing everything in my power to stay away, to stay on the right side, to play hard, but be on the good side of it.
“I think every player needs to develop as his career goes on, better and improve in every aspect of his game to stay in the league and stay on the top of those levels. So yeah, definitely development, learning, a lot of stuff goes into it.”
While Gudas now gets to return to action after his suspension, the same can’t be said for Matthews. The hit caused a tear to the Leafs’ superstar’s MCL, and will require 12 weeks of rehabilitation. With Toronto well out of the playoff picture this season, that will knock their captain out for the rest of the season.