Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas said he feels “terrible” for the injury that ended the season of Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews.

Gudas, who served a five-game suspension for a knee-to-knee hit on Matthews on March 12, is eligible to return to the Ducks for their game Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks. Gudas addressed the incident for the first time following Anaheim’s morning skate Tuesday at Rogers Arena. Gudas said he contacted Matthews and let him know he never intended to hurt him on the play.

“I really hate the way it ended up, the point of contact,” Gudas said. “I’m not a fan of that. I never want to injure anybody out there. It’s a hard-fought game. It’s just, yeah, I never want to go out there and hurt anybody. I feel terrible about the outcome. I just committed to the play, and unfortunately that was the point of contact.”

Matthews underwent surgery Thursday to repair a Grade 3 medial collateral ligament tear with an expected recovery time of 12 weeks. The 28-year-old center finished his season with 27 goals and 26 assists in 60 games for the Leafs, who are 29-29-13 and will not make the playoffs.

Gudas’ five-game suspension by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety was met with widespread criticism for being too lenient. The 35-year-old defenseman was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing, but the light additional ban, combined with Matthews’ status as an NHL superstar, drew enough condemnation that Department of Player Safety head George Parros spoke publicly to defend the process used to arrive at the punishment.

“I’ve got to learn,” Gudas said. “I’ve got to be better as a hockey player. I never want to go out there and hurt anybody. It’s very unfortunate. I reached out to him, too. We spoke. I never want to see anybody get hurt, so I feel very terrible about that.”

Gudas is in his third season with the Ducks and his second as their captain. The suspension was the fifth in his 14-year NHL career but his first since 2019, when he played for the Philadelphia Flyers and got two games for a high stick to Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov.

An unrestricted free agent this summer, Gudas said he has worked hard to play his physical game without crossing the line. He said he respected the NHL’s decision.

“I’ve tried to stay on the good side,” he said. “I stayed for a long time, over seven years since my last incident. I’m doing everything in my power to stay away, to stay on the right side, to play hard, but be on the good side of it.

“I think every player needs to develop as his career goes on, get better and improve in every aspect of his game to stay in the league and stay on the top of those levels. So yeah, definitely development. Learning. A lot of stuff goes into it.”

Within the past two months, Gudas has come under other scrutiny. During the Olympics, when he played for the Czech Republic, he delivered a hit to Canada captain Sidney Crosby that left the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar with an MCL sprain and ended his tournament.

Canada went on to lose the gold medal game to the United States in overtime, but Crosby later said he had no issue with Gudas’ hard check. In that same quarterfinal game, Gudas was heard using what can be considered a homophobic slur after being given a roughing penalty in a battle with Canada’s Brandon Hagel. He later apologized for the incident and said he understood why his language was considered offensive.

“In the heat of the moment, the emotions got the best of me and I’m sorry for the way it looks in all of hockey,” he told The Athletic. “Nothing I can do about right now, but I feel sorry about that.”