Longtime Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, who has not performed an NHL recreation since April 2023, stated he’s “100% dedicated” to returning to the league for the 2025-26 season, Pierre LeBrun reviews. Toews knowledgeable agent Pat Brisson that he’s set on making a comeback, and Brisson stated he’ll take calls from NHL groups forward of the free company interval, which begins July 1.
An prolonged battle with COVID-19 and persistent inflammatory response syndrome derailed Toews’ profession, and he introduced practically two years in the past that he deliberate to sit down out to deal with his well being. Toews emphasised on the time that he was not retiring from the NHL however relatively sitting out the 2023-24 season. That absence prolonged into the latest marketing campaign.
Toews missed your entire pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season and introduced on the finish of the yr that he acquired a CIRS prognosis. He later revealed that an antibody check confirmed he additionally had COVID-19 throughout that season-long absence. Whereas Toews returned to the ice with the Blackhawks the next yr, he missed intensive time with lengthy COVID signs and noticed his contract expire on the finish of the 2022-23 season.
LeBrun reviews that Toews spent the final a number of months working in direction of an NHL return. It’s not unprecedented for a participant to return from a multi-year absence, and Gabriel Landeskog did simply that when he returned to the Colorado Avalanche throughout this season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs after a three-year stint on the shelf attributable to knee surgical procedure.
Toews, a three-time Stanley Cup winner, constructed a storied profession solely with the Blackhawks. Chicago picked him No. 3 general within the 2006 NHL Draft, and the 37-year-old longtime captain performed 15 seasons with the franchise previous to his time away from the league.
The primary of Toews’ three Stanley Cup victories snapped a 47-year drought for the Blackhawks. He received the Conn Smythe Trophy throughout that postseason run because the MVP of the 2010 playoffs. Toews can be a Selke Trophy winner and six-time NHL All-Star. Internationally, he received gold on the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics with Workforce Canada.
