Rozner: Toews' absence leaves massive hole for Blackhawks

One can easily imagine the conversation Jonathan Toews was having with those closest to him as they tried to convince him to step away from hockey for a few weeks or months.

It was probably similar to the time he played through a concussion for weeks in 2012, before missing two months, refusing to give in to symptoms that would leave a normal person sitting alone quietly in a dark room, far from competing at hockey's highest level.

And if these weren't serious health issues, they might even chuckle about how stubborn he is about his craft.

That is the essence of Toews, the desire to compete, possessed by the need to give his all on every shift, regardless of the score, the calendar or the way some Blackhawks teammates might play.

He will skate 200 feet, he will block shots and he will always err on the side of caution, leaning defensively instead of cheating offensively. Others can have the headlines. Toews wants to win.

That has been Toews' entire career, underappreciated and frequently underrated. Crazy, right? The captain of a three-time Stanley Cup champ is underrated.

But it's true.

We don't live in a world where hard work is appreciated and good work is admired. Effort is mocked while empty calories are celebrated, the epitome of flash over substance. Headlines and clicks over deeds and staples, evil and cynicism ruling the day.

This is sports — and life — in 2020.

Jonathan Toews is everything that's right about sports and especially a game like hockey that requires as its chief tenet a team-first approach at all times. For this, Toews has become a Twitter punchline as he has gotten older and the players around him have gotten worse.

Fanatics move on quickly once they've stripped all they can from the carcass.

Toews, however, is the definition of, “You never know what you have until it's gone,” and his announced — and indefinite — departure Tuesday for medical reasons leaves a giant hole for a rebuilding team, on and off the ice.

“I've been experiencing symptoms that have left me feeling drained and lethargic. I am working with doctors so I can better understand my condition,” Toews said in a statement. “Until I can get my health back to a place where I feel I can perform at an elite level and help my team, I will not be joining the Blackhawks for training camp. I do not have a timetable for when I will rejoin the team.”

This makes the task much more difficult for head coach Jeremy Colliton, as all coaches would prefer leadership and discipline come from inside the room instead of from behind the bench.

Toews held players accountable and now with no chance for the playoffs, players who don't check themselves could become selfish and build bad habits without Toews there to set the tone.

That leadership is invaluable, especially when Toews matches his effort to his words, a trait that is derided until he has a huge game, and then the narrative quickly shifts back to big-game Toews, the guy who loves the big stage.

It's utter nonsense.

The play he made in Game 4 of the playoff series-clinching win against Edmonton, to steal a puck and set up Dominik Kubalik for the game-winner, is a play he makes so often that it's rarely noticed anymore. The puck battles and races won, especially in his own end, are just as crucial, but they don't make highlight films.

His 7 points in 4 games against the Oilers got him some good press, but he has had many great games when his name wasn't on the score sheet, and no media asked to speak to him after a game.

And that's fine with Toews.

“He has respect in the room,” said Brandon Saad after the Hawks' 3-2 victory that eliminated the Oilers. “The biggest thing is you can talk the talk, but when you're going out there and leading by example with his work ethic, everyone buys in.”

Toews doesn't care about garnering headlines. He just wants to win. He just wants to play hard. He wants more ice time. He wants to do his job.

Hopefully for his sake, he'll get that chance sometime in 2021, but until then perhaps his absence will be apparent to those who have stopped paying attention, who don't appreciate that the 32-year-old, future Hall of Famer is still a massive contributor even if he isn't the player he was 10 years ago.

Understand it or don't, but hockey is not a better game without him.