‘Super thankful’: Toews returns to the spot where he changed lives of Blackhawks fans

Jonathan Toews played for the Blackhawks as recently as the 2022-23 season, but defenseman Connor Murphy is one of the few players in the current locker room who also logged time as a Toews teammate.

So Murphy had an interesting perspective on Toews returning Monday to the United Center for the first time as an opposing player with the Winnipeg Jets.

“He's funny,” Murphy said. “People will go up to him in public and they won't just say they're a big fan, they'll almost give an emotional thank you to him. They'll literally say, 'Thank you for making my life better.'”

Toews and former teammate Patrick Kane certainly experienced the best of what playing sports in Chicago could offer. They started young, won three Stanley Cup titles, stayed with the Blackhawks a long time.

And because this is hockey, they were maybe more accessible and better connected to the community than, say, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen could have been.

“Well, I'm just super thankful,” Toews said after Winnipeg's morning skate. “Really, really grateful. I think the beauty of our game is it's so team-oriented. I'm always trying to be cognizant of the fact that I was thrown into a really incredible opportunity.

“I had a lot of will and a lot of energy coming into my career as a young kid here in Chicago. But it was just a perfect storm. We had so many great players that were finding themselves and finding their careers, finding their games at the same time.”

When Toews debuted with the Blackhawks in 2007, the team had made the playoffs just once in the previous nine seasons. Eight years later, Toews and the Hawks were three-time Stanley Cup champs.

“I always love the story of Duncan (Keith) and Seabs (Brent Seabrook), how they were handing out free tickets at the train stations in their jerseys,” Toews said. “And no one knew who they were.”

Now it's been 11 years since the last championship. Toews stuck with the Blackhawks through 2023, then took two years off to try to get healthy. He was experiencing chronic inflammatory response syndrome, which was causing persistent fatigue and inflammation.

The road to recovery included a five-week trip to India in the fall of '23 to try healing through alternative medicine. Now 37, he returned to the NHL this season with his hometown team. Toews' level of play is nothing like it used to be, but he has played in every game for the Jets.

“It's definitely been an adjustment,” he said. “There's a lot of things I didn't really project or foresee. I think just even acclimating to a new group, a new locker room, I think is something I wasn't really quite expecting. The game's always changing, the league's getting better.”

Kane has made three trips back to Chicago to play against the Hawks with the Detroit Red Wings. Maybe that's someone Toews could lean on for advice on how to deal with an emotional homecoming.

“I thought about it, and I was like, 'You know, what am I calling you for advice for?'” Toews joked. “No, I'm kidding, but like I said, I'll just go out there and enjoy it tonight.”

Because the Blackhawks hosted a “Banner Years” celebration on Saturday, with a number of players from the championship era returning, Toews was able to get together with some of them on Sunday night. He also talked about his parents being in town for this one.

Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill competed against Toews for several years, as an NHL assistant and head coach of the Red Wings from 2015-22. Blashill offered a strong compliment for the returning hero on Monday morning.

“I think he's a winning player,” Blashill said of Toews. “There's great point-getters, and there's great winners. For me, he's a great winner.”