Kristen ShiltonMar 13, 2026, 07:44 PM ETCloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.Follow on XMultiple Authors
Auston Matthews helped off ice after hit to knee (0:26)The Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews leaves the game after taking a knee from the Ducks’ Radko Gudas. (0:26)
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 NHL season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, the team announced Friday.
Matthews, who has a Grade 3 MCL tear and also a bruised quadriceps muscle, will be reevaluated in two weeks.
The team’s update came a little less than 24 hours after Matthews was knocked out of Thursday night’s game against Anaheim on a knee-on-knee hit from Radko Gudas.
Gudas was given a major penalty and ejected. On Friday night, he was suspended five games for kneeing, the maximum the league’s Department of Safety could levy because his hearing was by phone.
Matthews’ agent, Judd Moldaver said in a statement that “in light of the obvious severity of the play, I am very disappointed and shocked that the league would allow for such a ruling.” Moldaver took issue with the decision to limit the suspension to five games.
Trying to make a move around Gudas in the slot in the second period of Toronto’s 6-4 victory, Matthews took a direct blow to his left leg and crashed to the ice. The U.S. Olympic team captain stayed down before being helped to the locker room.
Gudas is the bruising Czech defender who ended Canadian captain Sidney Crosby’s Olympics in the quarterfinals with a hit.
Matthews, 28, finishes the season with 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games. Toronto is projected to miss the postseason for the first time since Matthews entered the league as the No. 1 pick in 2016.
It has been a trying season for Matthews and the Leafs, who snapped an eight-game winless streak with the victory over the Ducks. Matthews ended a 12-game scoreless drought with a power-play goal before the hit from Gudas.
Auston Matthews helped off ice after hit to knee (0:26)The Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews leaves the game after taking a knee from the Ducks’ Radko Gudas. (0:26)
The Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews leaves the game after taking a knee from the Ducks’ Radko Gudas. (0:26)
Kristen ShiltonMar 13, 2026, 07:44 PM ETCloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.Follow on XMultiple Authors
“He’s done a few of those before in his career,” Toronto winger Matthew Knies said.
“There’s no premeditation,” Quenneville said. “Reflexes did it.”
Toronto is third to last in the Eastern Conference with a 28-27-11 record.
The Leafs take on the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.
CloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.Follow on X