Radko Gudas has been suspended for five games for kneeing Auston Matthews.
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the suspension on Friday after the Anaheim Ducks captain had a hearing over the phone.
Five games was the most that Gudas could be suspended for because it was a phone hearing.
Judd Moldaver, the agent for Matthews, called the suspension and the decision to have the hearing over the phone "laughable and preposterous." An offer for an in-person hearing would have allowed the NHL to suspend Gudas for longer, but also would have allowed Gudas an opportunity to appeal.
"While the process is set in our CBA, that this was the discipline is reckless and ridiculous," Moldaver wrote in a statement to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. "This decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players.
"Players and fans deserve better. The Player Safety Department should be suspended.”
The incident occurred in the Toronto Maple Leafs' 6-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. In the second period, Gudas stuck his knee out on Matthews in front of the net, catching the Maple Leafs captain’s knee and sending him to the locker room.
Matthews stayed down on the ice in obvious pain after the hit and had to be helped off by the team's training staff. He has since been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a Grade 3 MCL tear.
Gudas was given a five-minute major on the play and a game misconduct.
In a video shared by the Department of Player Safety, the NHL said that "it is important to note that Gudas is in control of this play."
"If he wants to deliver this hit, the onus is on Gudas to ensure that he makes an approach that allows him to deliver a legal full-body check," the video adds. "Instead, having led with an extended knee, and now finding himself lined up outside of Matthews' core, Gudas leans towards contact with Matthews in a way that results in a forceful, dangerous and direct knee-on-knee collision."
The 35-year-old Gudas has previously been suspended four times in his NHL career, totalling 21 games. His most recent was in 2019 and his longest was a 10-game ban in 2017 for a slash to the neck.
He was also responsible for the hit that injured Canada captain Sidney Crosby at the Olympics.
Gudas will forfeit $104,166.65 from this suspension. He is eligible to return to the lineup on March 24 against the Vancouver Canucks, and the Ducks will face the Maple Leafs again in Anaheim on March 30.
