Radko Gudas Injury Clouds Status for Maple Leafs Rematch

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had Monday, March 30th circled on their calendar for two weeks now. The second game of a four-game road trip, and more importantly, a rematch against Radko Gudas and the Anaheim Ducks for the first time since he ended captain Auston Matthews’ season.

Nobody stood up to Gudas in the moment, which drew the ire of the fanbase and the hockey world as a whole, so expect everyone wearing the blue and white to be looking for retribution when they meet at the Honda Center in a few days’ time—that is, if the bruising blue liner is even in the lineup.

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In his second game back from suspension, Gudas played just 8:33 of ice time before leaving with a lower-body injury on Thursday night in Calgary. Ducks reporter Zach Cavanagh later revealed the minimal details provided on his status.

Cavanagh wrote:

“Radko Gudas (lower-body) will be checked on tomorrow,”

The 35-year-old Gudas has tallied 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) and delivered 160 hits while sporting a -1 rating across 54 games played this season. He is a pending UFA in the third and final year of the three-year, $12 million deal he signed to come to Anaheim in free agency of 2023.

Gudas and the Ducks are in Edmonton to face the division-rival Oilers on Saturday afternoon before heading back home to Anaheim for their Monday night matchup with the Maple Leafs.

Should the veteran defenseman miss Saturday’s contest, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him also sit out the game that all of Toronto has been waiting for. Many have suggested that Gudas is ducking the rematch, where he’d be on the receiving end of some serious pushback, though we obviously don’t know for sure if that’s the case.

Either way, expect the Maple Leafs to come out firing on all cylinders to prove they aren’t going to be pushed around anymore—but if Gudas isn’t in the lineup, it would certainly take some of the spice out of it.

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