When longtime Chicago Blackhawks star center and captain Jonathan Toews chose to sign with the Winnipeg Jets this summer as part of his NHL comeback, the questions began about how quickly he would make his mark on his new team.
The answer to that question is “immediately.”
“The biggest thing you see is the level of enthusiasm,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said of Toews in his comments to media on Thursday. “I have talked to his agent a few times, and he was like, ‘I haven’t seen him like this in years. I haven’t seen him like this since he was breaking into the league, as far as the excitement levels.’ ”
When Toews pressed pause on his NHL career in 2023, there were no guarantees about a return to hockey’s top league whenever the 37-year-old had addressed and overcome serious health concerns. But now that he’s back and active with the Jets, Toews’ leadership skills and instincts are readily apparent to the Winnipeg organization.
“I was fortunate enough to watch him when he was coming into his prime (in Chicago) and becoming ‘Captain Serious’, and it was the little things that he did, the things that he did to make linemates better,” Cheveldayoff said Thursday. “Those aren’t things you lose because of age or not playing. Those are intangibles, and that is what he has. We will see how things progress and everything like that, but I think the true measure of what he is going to bring to the team is how he elevates people around him.”
To be sure, Toews’ 15 NHL seasons of experience – in which he’s played 1,067 regular-season games, while generating 511 assists and 883 points and winning three Stanley Cups – can only be a good thing for the Jets. He’ll not only be motivated to earn up to $5 million in performance bonuses on top of his $2 million of base salary, but he’ll be hungry to win.
This coming season, they’re going to try to push further than the second round of the playoffs, where they were beaten last year by the Dallas Stars. So Toews has a golden opportunity to add to his terrific resume and be one of the catalysts in Winnipeg having its best year in the franchise’s history.
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Toews’ talents on offense may have been diminished by Father Time – in his most recent season, he produced only 15 goals and 31 points in 53 games – but the Jets don’t need Toews to be a front-runner for the NHL’s Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point-getter. That said, they need him to not only produce on offense but also play savvy defense, be a calm voice in their dressing room and help the team weather any storm that might come its way.
If he can do those things, the Jets and Toews will be soaring this season.
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