When it comes to retirement, some hockey legends stay in the spotlight to a certain degree while others seem to vanish from the public scene altogether. While Blackhawks legend Jonathan Toews hasn’t officially retired, he hasn’t been seen at the United Center since his last game on the ice there and has rarely been seen in public in general.
This week, we finally got an important update on the status of the Blackhawks’ greatest captain and his road to recovery. Toews shared via Instagram that the reason he hasn’t been seen at all during this NHL season is because he hasn’t even been in the same hemisphere.
The fact that Toews has been trying alternative medicine thousands of miles away is an update that many fans didn’t exactly see coming. The important takeaway – he’s “happy to say things are trending.” Toews’ issues went far beyond the possibility of him playing again, and he’s been privately working through those things since his last game in Chicago in April.
The Blackhawks’ longest-tenured captain led the team to three Stanley Cups in an incredible 15-year career. His decline began in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, when he missed the entire season due to what he later revealed was chronic inflammatory response syndrome. His health deteriorated again at the beginning of 2023, leaving the team and saying “it has reached the point where I had no choice but to step back and concentrate on getting healthy.” Then, last August, he announced that he wouldn’t be retiring from the league. Instead, he planned to sit out the 2023-24 season and obviously hasn’t been seen since.
While we would all love to see Toews back on the ice, especially in a Blackhawks sweater, it’s beginning to look like that’s not happening. However, according to Toews’ post, he’s improving in a much more important area – his own well-being. As long as his health can get back to normal and he can get back to enjoying himself, that should be enough for Blackhawks fans everywhere.
I wish Jonathan a healthy future with his loved ones!