After sustaining a knee-on-knee hit from Anaheim’s Radko Gudas on Thursday night, the Maple Leafs won’t have their captain down the stretch. The team announced (Twitter link) that center Auston Matthews will miss the remainder of the season due to a Grade Three MCL tear. He will be reevaluated in two weeks and a further update will be provided at that time.
The injury brings a premature end to what has been a tough season for the 28-year-old. After lingering injuries slowed Matthews down off and on at times last season, the hope was that he’d come into this year fully healthy and get back to the level that saw him win three Rocket Richard trophies for the most goals in four years. With Mitch Marner now in Vegas, they were counting on him to be able to shoulder more of the load offensively.
However, that hasn’t happened. In between dealing with a pair of short-term lower-body injuries, Matthews saw his production drop even further this season. After putting up 78 points in 63 games in 2024-25, he was limited to just 27 goals and 26 assists in 60 outings this season. His goal earlier in Friday’s game snapped a 12-game goalless drought, allowing him to avoid tying his career-long stretch in that regard, set back in his rookie season back in 2016-17. Instead of leading the way offensively, Matthews finds himself fourth in team scoring and will likely stay there with Oliver Ekman-Larsson (who’s fifth) being 18 points behind.
Matthews has two years remaining on his current contract, one that carries a $13.25MM AAV that was briefly the richest in NHL history. It’s fair to say that Toronto hasn’t received fair value on that agreement so far given his reduction in production over the past two years. They’ll have to hope that the extended time off before next season will help spur his offense forward in the second half of the agreement.
His absence could also have an impact in the draft lottery. Toronto will retain its first-round pick if they land in the top five of the draft after the lottery. (If they pick outside that range, the selection goes to Boston.) The Maple Leafs are tied for eighth-last in the league right now, five points ahead of St. Louis, which is currently 28th. However, without their number one center in the lineup down the stretch, they could be primed to fall a little further in the standings.
Meanwhile, Gudas had a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety earlier today as part of the supplemental discipline process. That will cap a potential suspension at no more than five games. With Anaheim in action both Saturday and Sunday, a decision on that front should come before too long.
I think he’s been injured all year, but I also think Berube’s system has killed his production. And with the fact that he took that hit and no one on his team stood up for him which is inexcusable I wouldn’t be surprised if he quietly suggested a trade this offseason.
Where do you think he’d end up? My guess is LA.
I wouldn’t be surprised either, and it would probably make the most sense for him personally to move on. But, I wonder if Auston will come to the realization at some point that this is the team culture that he has directly cultivated or at least heavily fostered over the past nine years.
Matthews is a California native, Anaheim, And, San Jose have the cap space, And assets to make a solid offer, I do think it will be a Western Conference team.
You cant blame a singular person for a entire culture problem. The fans are pretty brutal there as well
I agree 100%, I blame the media, The fan base, And, The clueless management team for most of the issues.
Agreed. Not even a leafs fan but they ran Marner out the building and blamed him for being a locker room problem now theyre just shifting blame. There didnt seem to be a Matthews culture problem on the olympic team
Auston Matthews has played his FINAL game with the Maple Loops.
Shouldn’t have scored that goal dude. Now you pay the price…
Brutal news. Hopefully he can avoid surgery.
If the Leafs don’t call up some Marlies and go after Gudas all night on March 30th they truly are a lost franchise. Show even a semblance of heart and pride.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Auston Matthews is the new Elias Pettersson.
Gudas is a POS. Claimed Crosby and Matthews now.
The next Matthews headline will be this summer, His house is on the market.
Get him out of Toronto ASAP. He would look great in Florida