Anaheim Ducks’ Radko Gudas leaves game against Minnesota Wild

Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas was forced to leave Thursday’s game against the Minnesota Wild with an upper-body injury.

Gudas only played 5:01 in the first period before leaving the contest following a hit by Marcus Johansson.

Gudas previously missed a game with a lower-body injury in November, three games with an ankle injury in December, one game with an illness in early January and another game with a lower-body injury later that same month.

The 33-year-old from Prague, Czechia is in his first season with the Ducks since signing with the club in free agency last summer, scoring six goals and 16 points in 59 games. Gudas’ bread and butter is his physical play. He is second in the NHL with 124 penalty minutes, seventh with 186 hits and 19th with 142 blocked shots.

Gudas has led the NHL in hits twice, first with 250 in 2020-21 and again the following year with 355.

Currently in his 12th NHL season, Gudas was a key piece of Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup final in 2023. After unsuccessful runs with Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and Washington, it was his first run to the championship series. Originally drafted 66th overall by the Bolts in 2010, the rough-and-tumble defenseman helped the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals win the Calder Cup in 2012.

Away from the NHL, Gudas represented Czechia at the 2014 Olympics and in three seperate World Championship events, finishing as a top three players on the Czechs in 2017.