Jonathan Toews is entertaining making a comeback.
His fellow Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane hopes Toews rejoins the franchise he captained to three Stanley Cup championships.
Patrick Kane says he’s talked to Jonathan Toews a little bit about his hopes of returning to the NHL.
“I’d love to see him come back and play for the Blackhawks. That would be amazing. When you look at his career and how storied it is and how much success he had as a Blackhawk,…
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 10, 2025
It would be great to see Toews come back to the Hawks, but it is not going to happen.
The team announced back at the end of the 2022-23 season that their long-time captain would not be re-signed.
The franchise wanted to allow Connor Bedard to enter the franchise without the shadow of Kane and Toews hanging over him. The rationale was the same circumstances were afforded to Kane and Toews when they started on their path toward becoming the faces of the franchise.
However, it would have been nice to pair up Kane with Bedard to help the phenom get acclimated to the NHL. Then again, Kane wanted nothing to do with a rebuild.
Toews likely is not interested in going through the extensive rebuild anyways. Not when his hometown team, the Winnipeg Jets, or the Toronto Maple Leafs can offer him an immediate shot at winning the Stanley Cup
Plus, Nick Foligno is doing a fine job as the team’s leader. It would be kind of awkward to bring back the team’s long-time captain and not put the C back on Toews’ No. 19 sweater. It would be even harder still to remove the C from Foligno’s sweater when he filled the leadership void when the Hawks let Toews’ contract run out.
Look Toews return would sell tickets and be great public relations.
From a hockey standpoint, there might not be any room for Toews on the Hawks roster–even if the Blackhawks are the NHL’s worst team.
General manager Kyle Davidson reportedly wants to get veterans such as Pat Maroon and Craig Smith off the roster to open up spots for when prospects Ryan Greene and Oliver Moore sign their entry-level contracts after the NCAA season wraps up.
What I'm hearing about the Blackhawks https://t.co/VhAvB6uWy4
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) January 8, 2025
Therefore, it would not make sense for Davidson to add another older player, especially one who has been off the ice for a season and a half and counting.
At some point, the Hawks do have to continue moving on from the Toews and Kane era. It hurts to write that, but the team eventually ran out of steam with those two as the superstars of the team.
It would be great for Toews to return to the ice and return with the Blackhawks, the only NHL team he has ever skated with. If the Hawks were further along in the rebuild or even contending for a Stanley Cup, it would make a lot of sense to bring Toews back if he wanted to return.
He probably could still win faceoffs with the best of them and provide outstanding leadership. However, Kane mentioned after suggesting Toews come back to the Hawks that the game has changed even from just 2023.
Who knows what Toews has left to give to a team beyond winning faceoffs and helping run the locker room anyways. His game was not aging well before he went on hiatus.
Although, it might be hard for Toews to come in and try to lead this current Hawks’ locker room anyways since a lot of the roster has been turned over from the last time Captain Serious played for the Blackhawks.
Since Toews has gone through a lot just to get his health under control, it would not make sense for him to come back to the Blackhawks given how far away they are from even making the playoffs.
While it is nice for Kane to voice that Toews should be known for only playing for the Blackhawks, if Toews does return to the NHL, it will not be with the Hawks.
