WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Jonathan Toews is back in the NHL with his hometown Winnipeg Jets after a two-year absence.
The three-time Stanley Cup champion was introduced Friday as the newest member of the Jets, donning a jersey with his signature No. 19 at a team news conference.
The Jets announced their intention to acquire the 37-year-old center last month, but it only became official this week, with Toews signing a one-year deal worth $2 million, plus performance bonuses tied to games played and playoff success.
The longtime Chicago Blackhawks captain last played in April 2023. He told reporters Friday he was grateful for the opportunity to return to the ice, let alone with his hometown club in front of friends and family.
“It’s an honor and one that has really lit that fire again, that excitement for the game,” Toews said.
“You have these moments throughout your career where — I don’t want to say you get jaded — but you get used to it and you kind of settle in. This is another moment that kind of brings me back to that new feeling like you’re getting drafted again.”
Chosen as one of the NHL’s top 100 players from its first 100 years, Toews played 15 seasons with the Blackhawks and was one of the faces of the franchise. He also helped Canada win gold at back-to-back Olympics in 2010 and ’14.
Toews stepped away from hockey two years ago citing the effects of Chronic Immune Response Syndrome and long COVID-19. His exit coincided with the Hawks trading fellow star Patrick Kane and going into a full-scale rebuild.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff called Toews’ signing an exciting day for Winnipeg and said it’s something he had been thinking about making happen for more than a decade.
Cheveldayoff, an assistant GM in Chicago when Toews and the Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup, said that when he joined the Jets the following year, he and co-owner Mark Chipman mused about the possibility of seeing Toews in a Winnipeg jersey one day.
“At that point in time it was merely a dream or a concept,” Cheveldayoff said. “Last week, when we finalized everything, I sent Mark a text and it said, ‘Toews is a Jet.’ It was an emotional feeling.”
“One of the most decorated hockey players in Manitoba history is coming home.”
Toews is joining a Jets team that’s coming off a Presidents’ Trophy-winning season as the NHL’s top regular-season team. Earlier this week, Winnipeg lost a key offensive piece when winger Nikolaj Ehlers signed a six-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes.