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The Maple Leafs announced late Friday that the captain and franchise goals leader will miss the rest of the 2025-26 season with a Grade 3 tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
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The injury was suffered Thursday night when Matthews was struck knee on knee by Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas.
Gudas was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct, and was called to a phone hearing earlier Friday by the NHL Department of Player Safety,
Their decision on a suspension of up to five games had not been announced as of Friday evening. The Ducks’ next game is on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET against the host Ottawa Senators.
The incident brings to a close an unfortunate season for Matthews and the Leafs as a whole. While he struggled all season to find his all-star form, encouraged by winning a gold medal as captain of Team USA at the Milan Olympics, he returned to NHL play and laboured through a 12-game goal-less streak.
That ended in the Maple Leafs’ 6-4 win over the Ducks, just before the Gudas hit.
Matthews had 27 goals and 26 assists in 60 games, having passed Mats Sundin with 421 Leaf goals in December.
While Matthews struggled in March, the Leafs lost eight straight games. The team likely will not qualify for the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time in Matthews’ 10 seasons in Toronto.
Lhornby@postmedia.com
X: @sunhornby
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