NOW FULL CIRCE: Jonathan Toews and the Game that wouldn't Let Him Go
- Anthony Pellegrino
- Aug 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 4
Toews, 37, brings NHL Career full circle in October, amid time away from the game
By Anthony Pellegrino @Pellegrinoap50 TheFrozenFocus.com NHL Correspondent
April 13th, 2023. One final goal, one final salute. And the final time former Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews would rep the iconic Indian Head on his crest. The last time he'd see the "C" on his jersey.
The end of an era.
"I'll always be a Blackhawk... For the rest of my life,"
Toews echoed to all 19,700 fans that refused to leave their seats following his final game as a Hawk.
He would then proceed to take his final lap around the United Center.
And it was over.
For some, for most, they thought it would be the final time to see Jonathan Toews play in the NHL.
To all except Jonathan.
Months after the game, Toews would take to Instagram announcing:
"I would like to announce that I am not fully retiring, but I am taking time away from the game I love, again this season."
It wasn’t a goodbye. It was a pause. A much needed one.
Years of battling chronic immune response syndrome had taken its toll. Not just on his body, but on his identity. The captain who once defined durability and drive was now forced to rest, reflect, and recover.
Over the next year, Toews disappeared. Off the grid.
His Instagram flooded photos of beaches and surfing. Captions including: "I feel fine, I'm pretty sure it's genuine." Hockey was long out of the picture.
And then there was India.
While most assumed Jonathan Toews was stepping away to rest, he was, in his own words, “on a bit of a healing journey.” One that took him not just out of the locker room, but across the world.
In a deeply personal post, Toews shared that he had spent five weeks in India undergoing a Panchakarma, an ancient Ayurvedic detox aimed at restoring health by removing deeply stored toxins.
"It's been almost five years of searching for a way to heal the inflammatory and immune system issues that took me out of hockey," He wrote.
"The wisdom of Ayurveda has taught me that everything I experience, I am responsible for."
It wasn't rehab in the traditional sense. Instead, venturing off the grid. Finding anything that could help, in an effort to rebuild himself . And slowly, something shifted. For the first time in years, he wasn’t chasing timelines or fighting symptoms. He was letting go.
And in doing so, Toews found his way back. Not in the grind, nor in the pressure. But in the joy, to play hockey again.
So when word broke that Jonathan Toews was lacing up his skates once more; this time, for his hometown Winnipeg Jets, it didn’t feel like a comeback.
It felt like a full circle closure.
Or maybe, a new beginning.
He won’t wear the “C.” He doesn’t need to. This isn’t about banners, or legacy tours, or reclaiming a throne. It's about leaving it all on the ice. All, not 99 percent, all.
It's about the history of backyard rinks and Prairie winds. The place where it all started, and how home somehow always leads back.
He’s here to finish the right way, with nothing left behind.
Toews grew up just outside Winnipeg. His roots are in those winters, those crowds, those colors. Attending games as a child with his dad, cheering on the Jets.
And now after everything, that’s ironically where his next chapter begins.
The Jets may have signed "Captain Serious", but that era is over. This time around, it's a new Toews. Filled with the quiet fire of someone who wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
How it will go, no one knows. Not even Jonathan. But it's not to chase greatness. He already proved himself during his time in Chicago. He won three Stanley Cups, he scored 372 goals, and tallied 511 assists.
This isn't to rewrite how it ended.
Just instead, to end it one final time, leaving it all out, on the ice.
"I want to be able to step away from the game having said that I've given it my all."
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