It’s the end of an era in Chicago. Earlier this season, Patrick Kane signed with the New York Rangers, and now, it doesn’t seem like it will be long before Jonathan Toews leaves the team as well. Kane and Toews have been the powerhouses of the Blackhawks for many years and the main factors behind the Stanley Cups won in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
While Patrick Kane is off to a great start in NY, Jonathan Toews still struggles. He’s been absent from the Blackhawks due to illness related to Covid. Toews missed the entire 2020-21 season due to Long Covid and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome.
He’s still dealing with the symptoms, and he hasn’t played since Jan. 28, which means he still hasn’t dressed up for a game during the post-Kane Blackhawks era.
Now, it looks like a comeback is getting closer, and Tuesday, Toews met the media for the first time since returning. The season ends Apr. 13, and Toews will try to play a few games before then. But when talking to the media, Toews was open with the fact that this may be his last weeks in Chicago and the NHL.
“It’s definitely on my mind that this could be my last few weeks in Chicago as a Blackhawk,” Toews admitted.
His contract with the Blackhawks expires in July, and he still struggles with pain and fatigue.
Toews said that he previously this season experienced that he ”couldn’t move on the ice.”
“When day after day you’re just pushing through pain, it’s just like, ‘To what end?’ ’’ he said. “When you’re young and you’re playing for a Stanley Cup . . . that means something, and it’s worthwhile. But I’m at that point where it feels like more damage is being done than is a good thing.
“The decision was, ‘I’ve got to get myself right or the decision to not continue to play is probably going to be made for me.’”
Toews didn’t say it outright that his career was coming to an end, but fans certainly felt like it’s inevitable.
“I’m committed to get back to a place where . . . [I have the] energy to not only go out there and play the game at the level I know that I can, but also have the energy left over to enjoy life and enjoy my time with my teammates, whether it’s going to dinners or just little things like that,” he said.
