Linemate inconsistency hindering Toews in 5-on-5 play

Jonathan Toews' head must be spinning by now.

Seems that every time the Blackhawks' captain looks to his left - be it at practice, a morning skate or on game day - a different teammate is flying down the wing with him and Patrick Kane on the team's top line.

Seventeen games into this season, coach Joel Quenneville has already given looks to Richard Panik, Tyler Motte, Nick Schmaltz, Ryan Hartman and Vinnie Hinostroza. This, after a 2015-16 campaign in which Toews and Marian Hossa almost needed name tags to keep track of who was on the left side.

Having consistent linemates is certainly one key to any player's long-term success, as we saw with the Artemi Panarin-Artem Anisimov-Patrick Kane line from last year.

Toews, on the other hand, struggled when it came to producing in 5-on-5 play in 2015-16, scoring just 11 goals. This season, despite having Kane on the right side for the past 10 games, that narrative hasn't changed much as he has just 2 goals in 5-on-5 play.

Of the top 10 highest-paid forwards (according to their salary-cap hit), only the Flyers' Jakub Voracek has fewer goals playing 5-on-5 than Toews since the beginning of last season.

(Toews averaged 18 goals in 5-on-5 play during his first eight seasons).

Questioning what Toews brings to the table is dangerous, of course, because he's required to much more than score goals. Still, even he was hard on himself near the end of last season.

"I've obviously answered questions like that a lot with the way Hossa and I played last year, and I always talked about the two of us not producing as much as we wanted to," Toews said last week. "And I think for myself, it's just taking responsibility and taking ownership of whomever I'm playing with and trying to make them better."

Early this season - when Toews had no goals through eight games - he seemed perturbed on the ice, banging his stick into the boards on numerous occasions during practices or morning skates. After the team's 4-0 win over Colorado on Nov. 3, I asked him point blank if he was indeed frustrated.

"I don't know if I'd say frustrated," Toews said. "It seems like every other game there's a lot of flow (and we've got) the puck a lot. … Then some games it's like you're chasing it all night.

"So I think those are the moments you tend to overwork yourself and nothing comes of it."

This void on the left side came about because general manager Stan Bowman traded Brandon Saad to Columbus for Artem Anisimov after the Hawks won the Cup in 2015. Toews has no problem with that move, saying it "worked out really well the last couple of years."

Still, Quenneville has yet to find anyone who can consistently produce with his captain and Panik was back with Toews and Kane on Thursday as the Hawks practiced at Calgary.

"On a performance basis, we'll make changes as we're going along here," Quenneville said after the Hawks' win over Montreal on Sunday. "We'd like to have some consistency there and somebody just nail it; (to) be that guy that's doing all the right things."

So who grabs that spot permanently? For now, the smart money is probably on Motte, who has been out with a lower-body injury but could join the team as early as Friday.

Quenneville may even tinker with putting Artemi Panarin with Toews and Kane, but that would require splitting up a second line that has been awfully good.

As for Toews, he's ready for whatever comes next.

"I mean we've seen our top two or three lines change a lot over the last couple years," he said. "When things go well, you keep it rolling.

"When it's time for a change, you've just got to be used to those decisions that are being made behind the bench."

For Toews, it would just be nice if that decision was an easy one each and every game.

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