Rooting for Jonathan Toews to go out as he came in — a winner

When Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer tried to revive his career in 1991 — seven years after throwing his last pitch in the big leagues in 1984 and a few months after his Hall of Fame induction, none other than former teammate Steve Stone put the situation in daunting perspective: If Palmer couldn't get anybody out when he left in 1984 at 38 (he was 0-3 with a 9.17 ERA in five appearances in 1984), why would he be any more effective seven years later at 45?

As great as Palmer was — and he still is one of the greatest pitchers of all time with a 268-152 record and career 2.86 ERA — Stone was spot-on. Predictably, after one poor spring training start, Palmer called it quits for good.

There is much more hope for former Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews, who will be making a comeback in the 2025-26 season with his hometown Winnipeg Jets after missing the last two seasons with what has been reported to be long-COVID. Toews signed a one-year, $2 million contract with $5 million in incentives.

He doesn't really compare to Palmer — Toews is still 37 and has only been out of the game for two full seasons. But the point is this: unlike Palmer, Toews still was a productive player when he last was healthy. At 32 in the 2019-20 season that was altered by COVID-19, Toews scored 18 goals and 60 points in 70 games. He led the Hawks with five goals and nine points in the playoffs. In Toews fashion, he scored two first-period goals in the first game of the preliminary playoff series that sparked an upset of Connor McDavid and the Oilers.

Toews' health issues began that offseason — "I have been experiencing symptoms that have left me feeling drained and lethargic," he said in a statement released by the Blackhawks in December of 2020. "I am working with doctors so I can better understand my condition."

Toews returned for the start of the 2021-22 season but wasn't the same player. He scored 12 goals and had 25 points in 71 games, then 15 goals and 31 points in 53 games in 2022-23, when he missed all of February and March "still dealing with the symptoms of long COVID and chronic immune response syndrome."

Blackhawks star Jonathan Toews revealed he was dealing with an unspecified illness in December of 2020. He hasn't been the same since, though he played in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

Obviously it remains to be seen how much the illness has impacted Toews' game, but his game itself at least was still there when he was last healthy. If he's truly 100 percent, the odds are he will be a productive player in the right environment.

There's the rub, of course. Toews was a great hockey player in his prime, but a huge part of his impact that has made him a lock for the Hall of Fame has been abstract — his leadership, will to win, mental toughness and uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time that so often put the Blackhawks over the top.

Even in his early 20s, Toews was a player who tilted the ice in his team's favor and made supporting players feel better about themselves and their chances of winning. Let the record show that the Blackhawks of the Quenneville-Toews-Kane era had a tremendous leadership group that went far beyond Toews — Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Kane. But there's also a reason why Toews wore the "C" on his sweater.

Toews is obviously best suited for a team either at the top or on the cusp of getting there — and the Jets qualify as the reigning President's Cup champions who lost to the Dallas Stars in the second round. It will be interesting to see if Toews can have that same impact with a different dynamic — a team he didn't grow up with, a team that he joins in the midst of contention, and at 37, probably without the goal-scoring and point-producing ability that legitimized his role as a team leader.

One thing is for sure: Most Blackhawks fans — even those who can't fathom Toews in any sweater but the Blackhawks' — are looking forward seeing him back on the ice. Because Jonathan Toews, whose NHL star has dimmed since being the captain of three Stanley Cup championship teams at 27 in 2015, deserves to go out a winner.

"The uncanniness of Jonathan Toews" was one of my favorite stories on the Blackhawks beat. This was from the 2014 playoffs, after Toews was in the middle of several key plays in a 4-2 first-round series victory over the Blues.

Make no mistake — Toews has had an absolutely fulfilling Hall of Fame career. But after reaching a peak at 27 — including three Stanley Cups and two Olympic gold medals — his career downturn has been a bummer. He was the third-youngest captain in NHL history at 20 in 2008-08 — just his second NHL season. In 2010, there was a legitimate debate (and an actual one, on the media bus during the Stanley Cup Final) whether you would start an NHL team with Toews or Sidney Crosby. Since 2015, Toews was surpassed not only by Crosby, but by Patrice Bergeron and Anze Kopitar among the best two-way centers in hockey.

Even on his own team, as Toews' impact diminished with the demise of the Blackhawks as Stanley Cup contenders, teammate Patrick Kane's star rose as he took his offensiive game to another level — winning the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP in 2016 and averaging 37 goals and 93 points per season from 2015-16 to 2019-20. (In February of 2010 — before the Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup in the Quenneville era — Toews (46th) ranked ahead of Kane (48th) among the top 50 Blackhawks of all-time in a story I wrote for the Sun-Times. Today, Kane is generally No. 1 overall in that discussion and Toews second, third or fourth — but clearly behind Kane regardless.)

Toews was still productive and and impact player after the Hawks won the 2015 Cup. He averaged 26 goals and 62 points in the next four seasons and was in the top-5 in Selke Award voting in 2015-16 and 2016-17. But with the Hawks fading as a contender and Toews' trademark leadership unable to stem that tide — the Hawks lost to the Blues in seven games in the first round of the playoffs in 2016 and were swept by the Predators in 2017 — Toews' standing as an NHL stalwart plummeted. After winning his third Stanley Cup in 2015, Toews was ranked the fourth best player in the NHL heading into the 2015-16 season. Just two years later — at 29 — he was 35th.

Nobody needs to hold a pity party for Jonathan Toews. His standing as one of the best centers in NHL history and a leader who helped turn the Blackhawks into champions is secure. But he deserves a better finish than he had with the Hawks. In the movie, Adam Lowry hands Toews the Stanley Cup in a fitting conclusion to a magnificent career. Real life figures to be less satisfying than that. But after a storybook beginning, it's good to know that Toews will at least get the chance for a storybook ending.