Auston Matthews Out For The Season

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.