To the surprise and chagrin of many around the league, Radko Gudas received just a five-game suspension for ending Auston Matthews' season. But, if it were up to the Toronto Maple Leafs, that ban would have been considerably longer.
Speaking on the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported that Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving pushed for harsher discipline.
"Brad Treliving called the league and said, like he made a case for a big suspension," Friedman said. "He said, 'this is bad for the league, it's our captain, it's our best player. Imagine if we were in a playoff race, imagine if he lost playoff games to it.'"
Friedman also added that Treliving reminded the Department of Player Safety about the significant suspensions the Maple Leafs had received in recent years — five games to Morgan Rielly and six, reduced to four, for Jason Spezza — and brought up the Matt Cooke seven-game suspension in the 2014 playoffs for kneeing Colorado's Tyson Barrie.
"(The Maple Leafs) felt it was a similar play and they argued very strongly in the fact that, even though Gudas hadn't been suspended for a while, he should be punished severely," Friedman continued. "The Ducks came to the defence of their player. They said that Gudas hadn't been suspended in seven years."
Per Friedman, the NHL Players' Association presented data from all kneeing suspensions in the past 15 years — one seven-game ban, three four-game bans, nine two-game bans and three one-game bans.
"So the PA said, 'look, kneeing suspensions are, 12 of the last 15, one or two games,'" said Friedman. "They've been appealing a lot. I think the league is wary about that. The PA walks a fine line — they represent both Matthews and Gudas."
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.
Gudas received the suspension after kneeing Matthews in what turned out to be a 6-3 win for the Maple Leafs against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night. He received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct, while the Maple Leafs later announced that Matthews suffered a Grade 3 MCL tear and would be sidelined the remainder of the season.
In a video explanation released 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."
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