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“There’s a little part of it where it’s a little bit of a check to your ego,” Toews said.
Published Dec 09, 2025 • Last updated 39 minutes ago • 4 minute read
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Winnipeg Jets’ Jonathan Toews (19) and Utah Mammoth Kevin Stenlund (82) battle for the puck during the second period of their NHL hockey game in Winnipeg, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. The Jets lost 3-2 to Utah. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Greenslade /Winnipeg SunArticle content
The opening two months of the season have been rather forgetful for Winnipeg’s prize free agent signing back in the summer, leading to unforeseen changes.
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At practice on Monday morning, Jonathan Toews was knocked back to the fourth line, skating up and down the left wing with Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke. On Tuesday, the situation remained static with Toews in the same place, on the fourth line with Barron down the middle and Gus Nyquist and Koepke rotated in and out on the right side.
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“I didn’t envision him being where he is right now,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said on Tuesday morning. “I’m just trying to get four lines going, and I’m trying to get him going (with the move to the wing). It’s just taking a little bit of the wear and tear off him having to defend all of the time in our end of the rink. Not being in situations offensively where he can spend a lot of his energy.”
Dollars to doughnuts, if Arniel didn’t expect to see Toews in this current position, it’s fair to say the player himself didn’t envision this scenario when he was officially unveiled at Canada Life Centre on July 4.
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Toews remains positive
“There’s a little part of it where it’s a little bit of a check to your ego,” Toews said. “I’ve always prided myself on the way I play at both ends of the rink and playing a two-way game as a centreman, so the second you kind of see your name on the wing, it’s a bit of an adjustment.”
The 37-year-old signed a one-year deal with a base salary of US $2 million, plus several performance-based bonuses.
When the Jets inked the Winnipeg native, he was penciled in as the potential answer at the second line centre position, both at 5-on-5 and the power play, on a line with Cole Perfetti and Gustav Nyquist.
The original plan has gone kerflooey, to say the least. All the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Perfetti has two goals and two assists in 14 games, still working his way back from a high-ankle sprain he suffered late in the pre-season and Nyquist, a healthy scratch after the Dec. 1 against the Buffalo Sabres, has zero goals in 20 games. Nyquist was a healthy scratch against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.
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Toews has three goals and six assists in 28 games played. He is minus-13, and by some metrics one of the slowest skaters in the league with, according to NHL Edge, below the 50th percentile in speed with a 21.64 miles per hour skating speed burst as his highest rating. His slowest speed of the season so far was recorded at 20.32 mph in the loss to the Oilers on Saturday evening.
He has the right attitude to weather the storm surging around his lack of production and queries about his foot speed.
“It takes you a minute to get past that and to move on, and to just be happy to get the chance to go out there and do a job, and don’t think too much about it,” he said.
Given the accomplishments of the player, Arniel is impressed with Toews’ professionalism. And that shouldn’t be a surprise, as the No.19 in blue and white said he wanted to be treated like one of the guys when he met with the media in the summer.
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Arniel loves coaching Toews
“He’s been fantastic about everything,” Arniel said. “From our very first conversation back in the summer was just ‘I want to fit in, and I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win.’ ” The biggest thing is winning, that is what he cares most about. Wherever he is and the part he plays, however large or small that’s what he wants, first and foremost.”
Toews was a bona fide first line player the minute the Chicago Blackhawks drafted the former North Dakota Fighting Hawks forward with the third pick overall in the 2006 draft.
In this specific case, there is no playbook for a player returning after a two-year absence due to health issues, when prior to his health problems he was an all-star player virtually every year, and a no-doubter for the hockey hall of fame when his name is on the ballot for the first time.
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“It’s new to me, but it’s really new to him,” Arniel said. “That’s why we’re having these conversations. We’ve had some good ones since the season has been going. If I’m going to do something, I’ve got to make sure that he understands why I’m doing it. The other side too, is that he’s got a lot of knowledge in his head. We’ll look at different things that may help him, whether that’s through video or just communication. If we just stay on top of it that way, then the two of us are kind of on the same page.”
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