Ducks' Radko Gudas 'Feels Terrible' After Injuring Leafs' Auston Matthews

Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas is in his feelings about kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews

The physical defenceman got caught out of position last week, and delivered a vicious knee to the Maple Leafs' superstar, resulting in Matthews suffering a torn MCL. Matthews has since had surgery and is expected to make a full recovery ahead of training camp in September. Meanwhile, Gudas does it again, but this time, he's feeling very guilty about what took place.

"I really hate the way it ended up, the point of contact," Gudas said Tuesday ahead of his return from his five-game suspension, according to Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre. "I'm not a fan of that. I never want to injure anybody out there. It's a hard-fought game."

Gudas added, "I feel terrible about the outcome. I just committed to the play, and unfortunately, that was the point of contact."

The knee-on-knee happened back on March 12, and Matthews suffered a Grade 3 MCL tear on the play. Gudas mentioned he text Matthews after the game, and the two spoke a couple of days after, but it didn't sound like it went over very well. "Just wanted to make sure that (he knew) it was not my intention to hurt anybody," Gudas explained.

Gudas is no stranger to the NHL's Department of Player Safety giving him a call, as he's been suspended five times, however, this was the first time since 2019."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 (from suspensions), to stay on the right side, to play hard but be on the good side of it."