Maple Leafs react to Radko Gudas receiving 5-game suspension for kneeing Auston Matthews

“I mean, you lose a guy for the rest of the year, your leader, their guy gets five games. I don’t know. It’s not the first time he’s done it, either. Frustrating,” defenceman Jake McCabe said to reporters after the morning skate. “I mean, I can sit here and say whatever, but it’s not going to change it. I’m not in charge. I’m not George sitting in the chair making the phone call and making those decisions, so it doesn’t matter what the hell I say.”

Gudas has a lengthy history of receiving supplemental discipline, including a 10-game suspension in 2017 for slashing Mathieu Perreault in the neck. The rules of the NHL Department of Player Safety state that a player isn’t considered a repeat offender if it has been three years since their previous suspension, even if their prior transgressions resulted in severe punishment.

“I think the league could have done a little bit more, seeing as our best player, our captain. Again, not going to be with us for the rest of the year. That’s a big loss for us. That decision is kind of out of my control, but I would have loved to see a little bit more,” he said via The Hockey News’ David Alter. “To see a player go down like that and be in as much pain as he was getting off the ice and a guy like that  who is a repeat offender of occasions like that, you know, I don’t think it was enough is all I’ll say about that.”

The Leafs will get their chance at exacting revenge when they head to Anaheim for a rematch against the Ducks on March 30th. In the meantime, they will have no choice but to quickly adjust to life without their captain for the remainder of the regular season, beginning with Saturday’s clash against the Buffalo Sabres.

More troubling than the suspension itself was the lack of an immediate response from the Leafs after the hit. It drew heavy backlash from fans and media members alike, especially given this wasn’t the first time a hit of this nature went unpunished in the immediate aftermath. While the Leafs scored two goals on the ensuing power play, it was hard to ignore that their initial reaction was to skate idly.

“Unfortunate that that’s what it took for us to play like we did finally after that stretch of games,” McCabe said of the Leafs’ response in the third period.

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