Kevin Bieksa buries the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs embarrassed themselves this week when they failed to show any kind of response whatsoever after Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was on the receiving end of a season-ending knee on knee hit courtesy of Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas.

Many have been critical of the Leafs since the incident occurred but on Saturday night former National Hockey League defenseman Kevin Bieksa made some of the harshest comments on the topic so far. Bieksa openly questioned the teams courage as he went on a brutal rant about just how wrong he felt the entire thing had been.

"The suspension is what it is, the hit is dirty we can agree on that," began Bieksa. "We can agree Auston Matthews as the captain is the one untouchable on their team, it's a green light to defend him. So why was there nobody coming to his aid right away? For me it's too things, it's selfish or a lack of courage."

Some have been quick to praise the Maple Leafs response in the third period but Bieksa was having none of that.

"Do we not value courage enough anymore?" asked Bieksa. "Courage is something like jumping on a guy, getting in and being a team. For me the damage was already done when there was no initial response and I just think about when I played the Sedins were the untouchables, if those guys got touched I would fight Andre The Giant. I would jump on Andre The Giant's back and I would expect all 4 other guys on my team to do the same thing."

Bieksa made it clear that there was no excusing the lack of response, with the former NHLer armed with facts to support his position.

"The fact that didn't happen that is the bigger issue for Toronto right now," said Bieksa. "And if you're like 'Oh our team is not built that way' well Tampa Bay and Florida and Buffalo, average height and weight is all the same as Toronto. It's not a size thing... it's a courage among 20 guys and a comradery and that's missing right now."

Tough words to hear, especially when they can't be so easily dismissed coming from a former NHLer like Bieksa.