Jonathan Toews Indicates Return to the NHL Next Season

Jonathan Toews reached out to his agent, Pat Brisson, yesterday to inform him that he’s 100 percent committed to returning to the NHL next season, according to NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun. Brisson says he will start taking calls from NHL teams on Toews now, leading up to July 1.

Jonathan Toews reached out to his agent Pat Brisson yesterday to inform him he's 100 percent committed to coming back to the NHL next season. Just spoke with Brisson, who says he will start taking calls from NHL teams on Toews now leading up to July 1.
Toews, 37, last played in…

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) May 29, 2025

Toews has been away from the game dealing with health issues, but the 37-year-old is ready to become a free agent on July 1. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and captain of the Chicago Blackhawks has been working his way back to health, with high hopes for his NHL return.

This will lead to considerable speculation about where the former Blackhawk may end up. If fully healthy, there isn’t really a place where he wouldn’t fit as long as a team can fit him under their salary cap. Like Sidney Crosby, Toews is a guy who could very seriously end up behind an NHL bench shortly after his retirement. Given his experience, he should have an immediate impact wherever he ends up lacing his skates.

Much of his return is due to how things ultimately unfolded in Chicago. “I’m not satisfied the way things ended in Chicago,” Toews told Mark Lazerus in comments published in The Athletic and NHL.com. “It’s not about proving anything. It’s just that there’s something left in the tank, and I want to explore that. I want to go have fun, have a blast, play with passion.”

The 37-year-old last played in the NHL for the Blackhawks on April 13, 2023. That morning, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said their longtime captain and pending unrestricted free agent would not be re-signed that offseason.

The game capped a two-season stretch during which Toews was limited to 124 games, as Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome kept him out of the entirety of the 2020-21 season and from Feb. 21 to April 1, 2023, to deal with the effects of long COVID-19.

Now healthy, Toews is attempting to return and finish his career the way he thinks it should end.