Jonathan Toews reportedly eyeing return to NHL after ex-Chicago Blackhawks star sat out last 2 seasons
Former Chicago Blackhawks captain and three-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews is eyeing a return to the NHL in the fall, according to a report Thursday.
TSN analyst Pierre LeBrun posted on social media that Toews 'reached out to his agent Pat Brisson yesterday to inform him he's 100 percent committed to coming back to the NHL next season.'
LeBrun added that Brisson will begin fielding interest from teams leading up to the opening of free agency July 1.
Toews, who turned 37 on April 29, last played in the Hawks' 2022-23 season finale against the Philadelphia Flyers on April 13, 2023.
It had been publicized before that game that Toews would not receive a new contract offer from the Hawks, so he received a hero's send-off from the United Center crowd and capped his final performance for the team with a second-period power-play goal.
Toews missed all of 2020-21 and two months of his last Hawks season with extremely painful and lethargic symptoms he has attributed to chronic immune response syndrome and long COVID-19.
Since stepping away from the game, Toews has expressed a desire to return once he gets a handle on his health problems.
He went on a five-week 'healing journey' to India, employing a 'Ayurvedic detox (program) called a Panchakarma,' which he explained in an Instagram post and an interview with GQ magazine, published in December 2024.
With the help of an Ayurvedic practitioner, solutions included changing his diet and taking herbal tinctures to help with inflammation and digestion.
'There's a part of me that really doesn't feel like my career is over yet,' he told GQ, 'and 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.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Denny Hamlin wins Michigan, taunts crowd while awaiting third child
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Denny Hamlin could feel nerves during the race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. His fiancée, Jordan Fish, was six days past due with their third child and Hamlin and his team had decided if they got past Lap 50 of the 200-lap race, he wouldn't be told if she went into labor. Things worked out for Hamlin. He won at Michigan and 90 minutes after the race, was still at the track doing media. He talked about why he needs to be at the birth, baby names … and fierce taunts of the crowd in Michigan. That's Hamlin, living amid chaos and then creating even more for himself. "I don't want to be so ho-hum with winning that it's boring because then I lose my drive," Hamlin said. Hamlin, who has a group of friends who are Ohio State fans, gave the "O" sign to the Michigan crowd and resurrected his line that he told his father he wouldn't use anymore as he crowed to the crowd: "I beat your favorite driver." The boos reigned and Hamlin chuckled. "I do thrive on it just simply because you feel like you've got 60,000 people that are rooting against you," Hamlin said. "When you have that, it just feels really, really good and gratifying to prove them wrong. "I love that feeling." Hamlin had spent Saturday night in Michigan as Fish had not had any labor symptoms. Fish posted an Instagram story late in the race that she was at home. "I felt decent enough about it," Hamlin said. "We had to set some sort of cutoff of whether I was going to finish or not. "So I was very nervous last night and then this morning to getting the call because I knew I had a race-winning car after yesterday." Hamlin is known to run well, even with outside distractions. And he has the additional drama of the race team he owns (but doesn't drive for) 23XI Racing embroiled in a lawsuit against NASCAR. Earlier in the week, the team was dealt a blow in the U.S Court of Appeals and faces the prospect of the 23XI Racing cars not being chartered in a few weeks. It seems that he has been able to focus when he's at the track since that lawsuit was filed last October. The worries about missing the birth of his child, though, seemed to weigh on him more. With JGR simulator driver Ryan Truex at the track, in case he needed to leave, Hamlin knew the team was prepared for him to leave if Fish went into labor. He knew he had a strong car and had a good feeling about the race. Granted, Hamlin didn't have the fastest car. Chris Buescher probably did, but his car wiggled as he tried to run down the leaders late in the race. This cost him valuable momentum and he ended up coming across the line a second after Hamlin. \ William Byron had a strong car, but like many others, he had to save gas near the end, relinquishing the lead with less than four laps to go and then running out with a little over a lap remaining. Hamlin's team made sure he had enough fuel on the final stop to be on the attack at the end. And he executed flawlessly to the finish. And his wife was still at home, posting on Instagram near the end of the race. "I was a little nervous just because we put the Lap 50 cutoff," Hamlin said. "If it happens before Lap 50, I just go ahead and get out, just because of the time. "If it was after, I thought that by the time she gets her s--- together and gets to the hospital, all that stuff? You just never how it all turns out. But I think I can make it, as long as I had a three-hour window." It marked the third win of the year for Hamlin and his 57th career victory in his 701st start. Now it's on to Mexico City, and Hamlin indicated he would be willing to stay home if Fish has not given birth by the weekend. Obviously, it is a much longer flight from there than it would have been from Michigan to his North Carolina home. NASCAR would grant Hamlin a waiver to miss a race and consider it for medical reasons, meaning he would still make the playoffs and get to keep playoff points earned during the season. "It's the bigger picture. You never know when you'll ever have another one," Hamlin said about wanting to be home for the birth of the child. "You may not. I've been really supportive of her, the way that she wants to have this play out, which is as natural as possible. "Everyone asks, 'Why don't you just schedule, schedule, schedule?' I don't know. You've just got to let her decide in these situations. If it causes me to miss a race, it's one of 701 races that I missed and it's just not that big of a deal." His team owner, Heather Gibbs, when asked earlier about whether she was nervous for Hamlin, quipped: "It's funny, because I have four [children]. They [husbands] don't really do anything. When he gets home, he'll be home. It was good." Hamlin's response: "Well, that is true. I've been in the room before, and she needs something really hard to grab onto, and my hand is perfect for it. I'm definitely going to be there this week — hopefully — to hold her hand." The same could have been said for the way Hamlin grabbed the lead just when he needed to and held on for the victory. "He kind of thrives in chaos, right?" Heather Gibbs said. "It was true, we wanted to get him in the car. ... He's as cool as they come, that's for sure." Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Miami Herald
3 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Panthers vs. Oilers Stanley Cup Final changes rinks. And, probably, little else
While The Talking Heads sang, ' where I want to be' and the TV sports talking heads will make 'home-ice advantage' a conversation topic, Games 3 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final in Amerant Bank Arena could look very much like the two overtime games in Edmonton that started this rematch. Expect neither team to alter style. Sunrise's ice isn't Edmonton's, known for decades as the NHL's best, but it isn't a swamp. And, the biggest home-rink advantage is personnel deployment. Still, you want to strut with Stanley, you can't be a mouse in your house. Since the NHL came out of the 2005 lockout and excluding the 2020 playoffs that were confined to Edmonton's Rogers Place, only one team won the Cup with a losing record at home in the Final: 2018-19 St. Louis, which lost two of three at home to the Bruins, but won Games 2, 5 and 7 in Boston. Of the other 17 Cup Finals in that time span, none of the winners lost more than one home game. READ MORE: After excelling on road all playoffs, it's time for Panthers to produce at home in Cup Final That's despite, in these times of uniformity among NHL rinks, the lone by-law advantage for home teams is personnel deployment. As the home team in Games 3 and 4, the Panthers get to make any player changes last before face-offs (unless they iced the puck, which means the players on the ice have to stay there). So, when Edmonton puts out center Connor McDavid, right wing Leon Draisaitl and Whatever Left Wing Fits At The Moment, the Panthers have an easier time getting the forward line and/or defense pair they want on the ice. 'The advantage is marginal,' Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. 'A lot of it happens probably just on running your bench in terms of minutes that you put on people when you're on the road and you get a D zone draw, especially when you have the players at the top end like Edmonton has. You run your top end of your bench harder than you will at home.' Evidence of that: ice times going into Friday's second overtime. Despite 80 minutes of hockey down, the Panthers had two forwards, center Jesper Boqvist and Jonah Gadjovich, under 10 minutes of ice time for the game. Edmonton, which rolled four lines more successfully, had no such players. If a fast, physical series also becomes a long series, that matters. 'Florida does like their line matchups,' Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'So, it'll be difficult for us to get away from those. But, we had the opportunity to play four lines, which allows us to shake those matchups a bit.' READ MORE: Panthers' top line hasn't scored yet in Stanley Cup Final. Is it a cause for concern? They are — and will remain — who you think they are Nobody knows more about making high-skill plays on various ice surfaces than NHL all-time leading scorer Wayne Gretzky, whose playoff history includes games on the NHL's smoothest, swiftest track in Edmonton and games in Los Angeles and Miami Arena. During TNT's postgame wrapup of Game 2, Gretzky opined that in Sunrise, the Oilers should play a more direct game to account for June ice that can give pucks minds of their own on passes and slick stickhandling moves. Perhaps the guy with more assists in NHL history than anyone else has total points is right. But, evidence from last year's Cup Final says the Oilers got used to working on whatever quality ice is underfoot. Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had to steal Game 1 for the Panthers, stopping all 32 Edmonton shots (the Panthers had only 18). In Game 5, McDavid had two goals and two assists, including an all-time highlight on which he slithered among three Panthers to set up Corey Perry. Edmonton's lone goal in Game 7 came off a stretch pass breakaway. 'You're not going to change how your team's playing,' Knoblauch said. 'You make little adjustments. But your identity is your identity throughout the playoffs.' The Panthers play the same smart, pounding, opponent-irritating way at home and on the road, better at the latter recently. Two of their last three home games, they got zeroed by Toronto in Game 6 and Carolina in Game 4, each time with a chance to end the series. Meanwhile, their last seven road games, the Panthers have scored, counting backwards, five; three; five; five; five; six; and six. That's exactly five goals per game. Home playoff goals by this year's leading Panthers playoff goal scorer, center Sam Bennett? One or one more than Ms. Valdes-Valle, your elementary school Spanish teacher. But, he's set an NHL record with 12 goals on the road.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Heather Gibbs on son Ty: 'There's so much to learn'
What Mike Richter Remebers About The Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup Victory Okay, The Stanley Cup Final Round already is sensational after last night's overtime tilt. It makes a Rangers fan wonder what it's like to be involved. 3:42 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
