MANALAPAN \u2014 George Parros is standing by the NHL\u2019s decision to suspend Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas five games for a knee-on-knee hit that injured Toronto Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews, a punishment that has been criticized as too lenient.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Tuesday at the league\u2019s annual general manager meetings, the NHL\u2019s head of player safety said the league followed its standard process despite questions about Gudas\u2019s history, which includes four previous suspensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel confident in this decision,\u201d Parros said. \u201cWhen we evaluate these plays, we look at the play, not the players \u2026 we did this and made this decision under those circumstances, felt that this was the appropriate response \u2026 and I stand by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews suffered a Grade 3 MCL tear in the March 12 game and will miss the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
The league opted for a phone hearing, which carries a maximum suspension of five games, rather than an in-person hearing that allows for a longer ban.<\/p>\n
Parros said he was aware of the injury before deciding to proceed with a phone hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a general understanding there was an injury on this play that seemed very obvious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ruling has drawn criticism, with Matthews\u2019 agent Judd Moldaver saying he was \u201cvery disappointed and shocked that the league would allow for such a ruling.\u201d Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid also questioned the process.<\/p>\n
Toronto head coach Craig Berube called the hit \u201cdirty,\u201d while teammate Matthew Knies said Gudas has \u201cdone a few of those before in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although not considered a repeat offender under the collective bargaining agreement \u2014 which only factors in discipline over the previous two years \u2014 Gudas has a lengthy disciplinary record. He was suspended four times between 2015 and 2019, totalling 21 games, and has forfeited more than US$750,000 in salary.<\/p>\n
Gudas, a 35-year-old defenceman, was also involved in the collision that knocked Canada captain Sidney Crosby out of the Olympics while representing Czechia, though he was not penalized on the play.<\/p>\n
Parros remains confident in the department\u2019s procedures and the group making the calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always looking to improve if there\u2019s room for it,\u201d Parros said. \u201cWe feel very confident in this process \u2026 but that doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re not willing to evolve if we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
With files from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANALAPAN \u2014 George Parros is standing by the NHL\u2019s decision to suspend Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,127],"class_list":["post-226006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}