The NHL giving Gudas a phone hearing for ending Matthews' season is a total failure

While the NHL hardly factors in previous actions when it comes to suspensions, when you're faced with a player who has four previous ones and a reputation for injuring players - you need to be proactive.

Instead, the NHL Player Safety Department threw their bias for the Toronto Maple Leafs right in the middle of things, as they only decided to give Gudas a phone hearing which comes with a maximum five game suspension.

Excuse me?

Let's take a look at Gudas' previous suspension lengths: Two games, three games, six games, ten games.

This is a guy who is reaching Tom Wilson-levels of dirtiness and when you already have precedent for suspending the guy for a half-dozen and ten games respectively, why renege on that now?

That's where the bias comes in. If this was any other player, then odds are Gudas would be given the full extent of the law. However, this was a Maple Leafs player after all and the pattern of light punishments for offenders has made fans irate with this being the icing on top.

That is not only a failure on behalf of the NHL Player Safety Department but a failure of the system as a whole.

Who needs to be taken out before things are actually done? Does Connor McDavid need six concussions? Does Sidney Crosby get hacked to shreds before you step up?

Matthews is the face of not only the Maple Leafs but one of the faces of the entire NHL. If you were to put top American players currently, you'd see him at the top. Showing this level of ineptitude is only going to cause fans to get even angrier than they already are.

If this was a first-time offense for Gudas or something that was completely a freak accident (like Kevin Fiala's injury), then it would be a little more excusable to see them go lighter on a sentence.

But this phone hearing stuff is pure nonsense, and the Maple Leafs are yet again punished by George Parros whether it be through suspension of their own players or a lack of punishment for others.

The NHL has an announcement: The world's biggest stars are safe, but only in theory.

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