Overview
- The Maple Leafs said Auston Matthews sustained a Grade 3 MCL tear and a quad contusion and will miss the rest of the 2025–26 season, with a re-evaluation in approximately two weeks.
- Following a phone hearing that limited possible discipline to five games, the Department of Player Safety issued the maximum ban and said Gudas will forfeit $104,166.65 to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
- On the play, officials assessed Gudas a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct, ejecting him at 15:47 of the second period.
- League video cited Gudas for leading with an extended knee and being in control of the play; he has been suspended four times previously in his NHL career.
- Agent Judd Moldaver called the ruling “laughable and preposterous,” and coach Craig Berube said losing his captain for the year means five games “doesn’t seem like enough.”