Toews on his future and what it's meant to be a Blackhawk originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
After the Blackhawks traded away Brandon Hagel at the March 21 deadline, Jonathan Toews made headlines when asked whether the potential timeline of this rebuild has made him question his own future in Chicago.
"I wouldn't say it makes me question it as much as, for the longest time, the thought never entered my mind to leave Chicago," Toews said at the time. "And in this case, you can't help but picture yourself and what it'd be like to play for another team and what that experience would bring. That pops into your mind obviously, but again, Chicago's my home, I love the Blackhawks, I love the organization, it's been my family for a long time and I'm not putting the cart before the horse or getting ahead of myself in any way."
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It was raw, it was honest, and, quite frankly, I didn't have a problem with him peeling back the curtain on what he might be thinking. He turns 34 on Friday and missed the entire 2020-21 season with an illness. He's given the city and organization more than they could've ever dreamed of, and if he doesn't want to stick around for a rebuild that could take years, who could blame him at this stage of his career?
On Tuesday, Patrick Kane's competitive nature kicked in when he started thinking of ways to find a loophole and accelerate the rebuilding process in Chicago. He pointed out the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers as two teams that underwent rebuilds and got back into playoff contention ahead of schedule, although the situations are certainly different.
Toews was asked a similar question in his de-facto exit interview on Wednesday.
"I agree with him in that sense," Toews said. "I think that's an opinion that Kaner and myself definitely share and we feel like we deserve to express. Like we've seen with other teams, things can turn around pretty quickly. I think if a lot of different guys are given the right environment and right opportunity and keep taking steps forward, things can turn around pretty fast. It's a fine line these days in the league.
"You don't want to make excuses when you look back on a season like this, but there are just so many things that made it feel like we were working against the grain always. Whether it was the losing streak to start the season, goal droughts, just go down the list, there's just things that we needed to work out as a group. We needed to go through this for whatever reason.
"I think if we can all take those learning opportunities from it and all get better individually, I see us all improving quite a bit. I don't think it's fair to put any pressure on us going forward, but I definitely think we can come out of this better as individuals and as a team going forward."
Toews has one year left on his contract after this season, which feels like a long way away but technically the team and player can begin extension talks on July 13. The Blackhawks captain said he's not sure what the future holds for him and has learned to take things one day at a time at this point.
"I'm not going to comment on after next season because I have no idea," Toews said. "I think, if anything, these last few years have taught me just to stay in the moment and not look too far ahead or not too far behind. In that sense, I'm not going to think about that too much and just going to enjoy this offseason and really just love every part of the process of getting myself ready for next year and feeling good again, feeling like myself again and just kind of take next year however it comes."
You can tell how much it's meant to Toews to be a Blackhawk for all these years. Three Stanley Cups. A Conn Smythe Trophy. 1,000-plus games all in one sweater. He doesn't take that for granted, and he reflected on all of that when asked to put it into words.
"Simply put, I think guys like Kaner and myself are so lucky that we came in when we did," Toews said. "To see the other side of things of where this team, where this franchise was at at the time and there’s just so many things that just kind of lined up with the players that we had, with the organization we had, and just the success we had and everything was kind of piled on top of one another. Really, the stars just kind of aligned.
"At the same time, it felt like a family, it felt like there was some real togetherness, just understanding of the tradition, especially when you’re around guys like Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull and Tony Esposito and Denis Savard. And I could go on and on with the conventions, although admittedly, not a lot of guys like taking a weekend to travel when you’re at home in the middle of a short summer, but once you’re there you enjoy it. It was always great to have that interaction with the fans.
"I don’t know if it’s COVID but so many things have changed, it’s just been so different. But those are just part of the traditions of being a Blackhawk that are really special, that you’re trying to pass on and instill or at least remind these young guys of what we really have here and how special that is. There’s a lot to it, obviously."
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