After missing more than two years while dealing with long COVID and chronic immune response syndrome, Jonathan Toews made an NHL comeback this season with his hometown Winnipeg. Whether he’s ready to go through the grind of another year, however, remains to be seen. Speaking to reporters earlier this week (video link), Toews indicated that he’s not yet ready to commit to playing a 17th NHL season.
On the one hand, it was a disappointing year for the 37-year-old. Signed with the hope that he could be Winnipeg’s elusive second center, he wound up struggling mightily in that role, eventually being moved down the lineup. While that seemed to stabilize things, he still managed just 11 goals and 18 assists, the lowest output of his career.
On the other hand, Toews was one of just five Jets players to play in all 82 games. While that makes the lower output that much more striking, getting through the grind of a full season relatively unscathed after being off for so long is an impressive feat. It was also particularly noteworthy on the contract front as the bulk of his one-year deal was tied to games played; suiting up in every one allowed him to go from a $2MM base payout to a $7MM total salary.
In his prime, Toews was a point-per-game high-end two-way threat that was a foundational piece in Chicago on the way to three Stanley Cup titles. That earned him plenty of individual accolades and a spot on the NHL’s Top 100 list back in 2017. He’s well past those days though and coming off the year he had, he’s going to be in tough to command anything close to the deal he played on this season.
If he decides to play again, Toews will be eligible for a bonus-laden contract once more, as long as it’s a one-year deal. Given his uncertainty about 2026-27 as it stands, it’s fair to say that he wouldn’t then turn around and sign a multi-year pact. AFP Analytics pegs a one-year deal being worth a $1.45MM base salary which is reasonable (if not a little low) for his role he’d be likely to fill but with bonuses (games played and/or points-based) tacked on, a potential value could still land around the $4MM to $4.5MM mark realistically.
Toews noted that he will take the next few weeks to decide if he wants to continue playing and if he does, he would want to return to the Jets. With more than $20MM in cap space for 2026-27 as things stand per PuckPedia, Winnipeg would certainly be able to afford him and given how his deal was structured this season, it’s reasonable to think they’d be willing to do a similarly structured contract to keep him in the fold for next season. They’ll just have to wait a few more weeks to see if that will indeed be an option for them.
The league is getting younger & faster,time for Capt.Serious to hang ’em up. Props for coming back after a 2yr + hiatus(health setbacks).
Toews should look at his stats, And go take a seat on the end of the bench, And, Take the next few plays off, He has turned into a 4th line center at best, It’s embarrassing, I said it last summer when he got his deal with the Jets.
Nothing says “embarrassing” like being slightly less of a world class athlete than you used to be. Personally, I think it was crazy he was even moderately effective this year after his health issues the past few years. But can’t please everyone.
Grapes you should look at your comments And give us all a break and leave
7M for 11 goals. Ouch!