No one knows quite what to make of the Toronto Maple Leafs this year. As if a season from hell wasn’t enough, when the Anaheim Ducks faced the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 12, things took a turn for the worse after a nasty hit from Radko Gudas left Auston Matthews with a Grade 3 MCL tear.
That hit essentially ended Matthews’ (and the Maple Leafs’) season. But that’s not all. The lack of response to Gudas’s hit on Toronto’s captain also raised questions over the solidarity of the group. With retaliation now beckoning, the Ducks captain reveals why he’s intent on suiting up against the Leafs, knowing full well what’s coming his way.
Gudas Reveals Why He Isn’t Shying Away From Maple Leafs Rematch After Auston Matthews’ Injury
Speaking to reporters ahead of the game against Toronto on Monday night, Gudas was asked why he’s not backing down from a fight against the Leafs.
“Stand behind my own mistakes. I want to address it myself,” the Ducks captain told reporters.
While that is admirable, Gudas will have to watch his back when he takes the ice against the Leafs tonight. The Ducks captain served a five-game suspension, but the feeling around the league is that the punishment just wasn’t enough, especially given Gudas’s history.
Let’s not forget, Gudas was also the one who hit and injured Sidney Crosby in the Winter Olympics in Milan. That hit meant Crosby had to miss the semi-finals and the final against Team USA, a game which the Canadians ultimately lost in a nail-biting finish.
Following the 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, William Nylander admitted the squad was looking forward to this rematch against the Ducks. “It’s obviously a game that means a lot for our side, so we’ll be pretty fired up,” Nylander told the media.
Everyone from Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Pronger to Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid had something or the other to say about Gudas’s hit that ended Matthews’ season.
While Pronger raised eyebrows over the lack of action from Matthews’ Leafs teammates, McDavid questioned the process of the league looking at these events in isolation.
“I think player safety has done their best. It’s not an easy thing to do. With that being said, I think there is reason to take a look at how the whole process works,” McDavid noted.
“If every time there is a suspension, everybody complains about it, well, why don’t we take a look at the process and figure out if there’s a better way to make sure that both parties are happy, because it seems like there’s a lot of frustration.”
While Department of Player Safety head George Parros underlined that a system is already in place, this storyline refuses to die down. Until the Leafs get payback, at the very least.
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