April will mark two full years since Jonathan Toews last played an NHL game, but the former Blackhawks captain is considering trying to resume his hockey career.
Toews, 36, has resumed skating and has gotten down to a playing weight, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Thursday.
Seravalli said multiple teams have shown interest in Toews, naming the Maple Leafs, Jets and Avalanche as three possibilities. It’s unclear, though, whether returning later this season is a possibility or whether he’ll more conservatively aim for next season.
Toews told GQ magazine on Dec. 29 that he feels better health-wise after undergoing an intense, obscure healing process in India and that his hockey itch has returned.
“I think there’s a big part of me that really wants to give it my all, to get back on the ice and see where it takes me,” Toews told GQ.
“There’s a part of me that really doesn’t feel like my career is over yet. Who knows what this next part of the journey looks like, as far as getting back on the ice and trying to make a return to the NHL. There’s never any guarantees in life, but I’m going to give it my best shot. I’m going to enjoy every step of the way.”
Toews stepped away from the NHL when the Hawks told him they wouldn’t offer him a new contract after the 2022-23 season, during which he tallied 31 points in 53 games but wasn’t nearly as efficient defensively as he used to be.
The final years of his career were heavily affected by long COVID and chronic immune response syndrome, conditions that he admitted wreaked havoc on his energy levels. Weight gain appeared to be another issue.
He posted on Instagram in November that he “recently spent five weeks in India undergoing an Ayurvedic detox called a Panchakarma,” and he told GQ he actually did so twice, first in September 2023 and then again this past fall. The treatments he described are alarming, such as a five-day stretch of consuming exclusively ghee butter, but he said they helped him in the end.
“It was the most life-changing thing I’ve ever experienced, and I literally got stronger every month since then,” he told GQ.
The Hawks, for several reasons, probably wouldn’t be a possible fit if Toews did return to the NHL.
General manager Kyle Davidson has made it clear he wants a new generation of leaders to develop in the locker room without deferring to longtime legends. And as a rebuilding team with no playoff chance, the Hawks likely wouldn’t be very appealing to Toews, either.