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Friedman: Auston Matthews incident will have major ramifications on future of Maple Leafs
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Mar 16, 2026, 07:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 15, 2026, 16:09 EDT
The incident involving Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews getting injured by the knee of Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas is reportedly going to have a significant impact on the direction of the team going forward, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
“There is no question in my mind that internally, it will have ramifications on the future and the construction of the team. I tried to speak to as many people as I could, and there were words like ’embarrassed’ and ‘apoplectic’ thrown around about how everybody felt about what happened,” he said during Saturday Headlines. “It was a pretty emotional scene in the second intermission. Craig Berube said he talked to the players about it. You saw the way they came out for the third against Anaheim, and [Saturday].”
Friedman added that all four Leafs players who were on the ice recognized that Matthews had been tripped, but didn’t realize the severity of it until during the intermission. One of those players was Morgan Rielly, and while he held himself accountable during his media availability that night, he was also extremely apologetic inside the locker room.
Gudas stuck his knee out intentionally and clipped Matthews in the offensive zone during the second period. Matthews immediately crashed to the ice and was assisted off the ice by trainers after he was initially slow to get up while favouring his left knee. As a result of the hit, Gudas was given a five-game suspension by the NHL Department of Player Safety while Matthews suffered a season-ending Grade 3 MCL tear and quad contusion.
“Right now, the Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews are hopeful he won’t need surgery. They won’t know for probably a week or two, but they are hopeful he won’t need it,” Friedman said on Matthews recovery timeline. “The key thing here is that even if he does need surgery, there isn’t any concern at this time that it would take him into next season. They believe he’ll be able to recover over the summer and would start next season on time if surgery was not necessary.”
On January 31, Friedman reported that the Leafs and Matthews’ camp reaffirmed their commitment to each other even though the season to that point had gone poorly. While the campaign had not improved in the time since that initial report, the idea that Matthews wasn’t bothered by the idea of the Leafs doing a retool this year provided a sense of relief for fans worried that he might abandon ship at the first sign of trouble.
Now that the captain’s season has come to an end, this will start the clock on Matthews thinking more about his and the team’s plans. Asked whether he thinks the lack of an immediate reaction to Matthews getting hurt will impact how he feels, Friedman believes it might but didn’t want to speculate given the fact Matthews has not said anything publicly just yet.
“A lot has happened in a very short time in Toronto from the time they last kind of touched base with him about how they felt about things at the beginning of February,” Friedman said. “Since he is not going to play now, he has some time to think about it. They’ll have time to talk to him about it. I think sometime over the next couple of months, we are going to get a better idea of how everybody feels about the overall future of Matthews and the Maple Leafs.”
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