The real Radko Gudas: Ducks bruiser is more suited to captaincy than meets the eye

Radko Gudas is everything you expect him to be and nothing like what you expect him to be, all at once.

On one hand, the 6-foot, 208-bound bruiser they call The Butcher is stout enough that he appears to take up an entire doorway as he enters a Las Vegas conference room to greet reporters. He presumably could run through a slab of drywall, Juggernaut style, if he really wanted to.

Gudas delivers a truly bone-crushing handshake, then modestly reveals he’s glad it’s still strong because he’s been dealing with a broken finger. So that’s Gudas’ broken-finger handshake? Noted.

Physically, he’s imposing, a hardened veteran of 748 games, known for playing too close to the line and crossing it more often than he should, as evidenced by the four suspensions and four fines he’s racked up in his career. You picture the monster who screamed a war cry in Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll’s face after the Florida Panthers’ series-clinching overtime goal in the 2023 playoffs, and Gudas is just as intimidating in person, for the most part.

But when Gudas, 34, sits down to hold court, it all changes. He speaks a mile a minute – on everything from his Anaheim Ducks, to the state income tax problem in the NHL, to why he still believes fighting is necessary as a deterrent to cheap shots. He gives off a warmth that helps you understand why one of the game’s most notorious brutes could inspire so much love from former teammates that they would FaceTime him immediately after winning the Stanley Cup.

Yes, that happened. Gudas was at home in his native Czechia, in the middle of a morning business meeting on June 25, when he received a call from Sunrise, Fla., where it was six hours earlier. The Panthers were just kicking off their celebration after defeating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of the Final.

“My phone was vibrating and I was like, ‘Who is calling me?’ ” Gudas told a small group of reporters at the NHL Player Media Tour last month in Las Vegas. “And I see the guys from the locker room, and I’m like, ‘Hey guys, I’ve got to pause this meeting, I’ve got to talk to the guys from the locker room. They just won the Cup, so I’ll be back in 20.”

One year earlier, Gudas was a key component of the Florida team that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final as a No. 8 Eastern Conference seed only to fall short against the Vegas Golden Knights. Gudas had left as an unrestricted free agent to secure a three-year deal with Anaheim at a $4 million AAV. He wasn’t a Panther anymore, but his ex-teammates wanted to share the moment with him. It the meant the world, because, with his Ducks nowhere near playoff contention last season, he watched Florida’s run closely as a fan, particularly ecstatic to see Aaron Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk lift the Cup.

“It’s awesome, it meant the world for me more than anything else that they called me and wanted to speak with me and wanted to share it, so it was something that [tells me] in my heart that I did something right with them remembering me even after a full year of not even being there,” Gudas said. “But I had to turn the page with the family I have, and it was free agency time and we had to make this decision to move. I don’t want to look back and be sad. I’m looking back and I’m nothing but thrilled. I had a great time there, and I’m really happy for them to be Stanley Cup champions this year.”

If that doesn’t sell you on Radko Gudas, Teddy Bear: how about his appearances on a children’s show in Czechia? Not that he was the featured attraction. That’s his sister, Karolina Gudasova, who married Gudas’ former teammate, NHL goaltender Michal Neuvirth. She’s an accomplished performer in Czechia, the youngest ever to win the Thalia Award [for best performance in musical, operetta and other theatrical genres], Gudas explains, and her children’s YouTube program, Karol a Kvido, is a big hit. Some of its music videos have as many as 11 million views. The moniker is derived from her name and Kvido, which is Gudas’ son’s name.

Karolina is more famous than Radko is if they encounter anyone in their home country who has young kids, he jokes. He doesn’t believe he inherited her acting chops and singing voice and prefers to stay in the background, but he has appeared on Karol a Kvido on occasion.

Say you accept that Gudas does have a gooey interior beneath the beastly exterior. Would it also surprise you to know that one of the NHL’s most feared goons is also community leader? Along with his wife, Barbora, Gudas has helped back the expansion of ZS Baltimore, a bilingual school in Beroun, Czechia.

“We have a hockey program that helps young players develop throughout the school so they’re able to go to anywhere in Europe or anywhere in the world after they finish the school – to be able to speak more languages and be able to play sports,” Gudas said. “It’s not just hockey, it’s also for skiing, athletics [in general].”

If you put all the puzzle pieces together, it begins to make sense why the Ducks named Gudas the ninth captain in franchise history in September. His checkered past with the NHL Department of Player Safety may cause a bit of pause as to whether he can set the best example for teammates to follow, but that’s the 2D image of Gudas. The 3D image of Gudas is one of a cultured family man who relishes the opportunity to be a leader and mentor to the next generation. He’s also a much more impactful player on the ice than he often gets credit for; last season was tough defensively for every Ducks player, but in the three seasons before he signed with them, Gudas graded out in the 93^rd percentile of even strength defense, albeit he did so in a sheltered role, sitting in the 24^th percentile for quality of competition.

With an average age of 26.76, the Ducks are the NHL’s sixth-youngest team. That’s to be expected for a club that has operated exclusively as a rebuilder since Pat Verbeek took over as GM in 2022. In summer 2023, when the Ducks signed Gudas and two-time Stanley Cup winner Alex Killorn, the idea was to install some seasoned vets who could teach the young Ducks how to become better pros. Killorn works with a forward group that includes Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish and, eventually, Beckett Sennecke. Gudas and longtime Duck Cam Fowler are tasked on the blueline with shepherding Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Jackson LaCombe and Tristan Luneau, with Stian Solberg coming someday, too. Gudas knew what was expected of him when he signed, and he’s comfortable in that role. After the likes of Eric Brewer and Matt Carle mentored him early in his NHL days, Gudas believes he’s paying it forward.

“I played most of my career with younger players after I left Tampa [in a 2015 trade],” Gudas said. I played one year with same age defensemen as me, and then I always got the young guy next to me paired up, because they’re usually a little more offensively minded, so I don’t mind being in this role of helping this guy out. And if we have the whole [Ducks] defense this young, yeah, we need somebody for them to, I don’t want to say look up to, but if they need something to run by me, and don’t have to talk to the coach, then I’m there for them to help them out. Speaking during the game or during the shifts, during the time we’re on the bench, things that we need to adjust, I’m enjoying the role. As long as they’re happy, I’m okay to help them out, as long as they’re asking and listening to what I say.”

If we judge the book by its cover – OK, Gudas is a hardcover, thick and blunt. He will continue doling out punishment as often as any NHL player this generation has. But there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. The Ducks understand all sides of him. That’s why they’ve stitched the C on his jersey.