Jonathan Toews is playing his best hockey of the season with the Winnipeg Jets and he’s happy his first-ever game against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Centre has timed up with his improved play.
Toews and the Winnipeg Jets will visit the Blackhawks on Monday as he plays against the club he won three Stanley Cups with over 15 seasons after being selected third overall in the 2006 draft.
The 37-year-old centre has heated up of late with four goals and seven points in nine games this month, improving his season totals to seven goals and 18 points in 47 games.
“It’s almost like I was happy it was later in the season just because I want to play well and I feel I’ve been building my game,” Toews told NHL.com of returning to Chicago. “There’s a little bit of nerves there with the thought of that game coming up pretty soon, so it’ll be very emotional.
“Obviously, I really want to go out there and play well and do my best, but those ones are always tough to focus on the task at hand with a lot going on around you.”
Viewers in the Jets region can watch Monday’s game LIVE on TSN3, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
Toews recorded 372 goals and 883 points in 1,067 career games with Chicago, serving as team captain from 2008-2023. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2010 and the Frank Selke Trophy in 2013 in addition to the three titles during his tenure.
He last played in Chicago during the 2022-23 campaign, putting up 15 goals and 31 points in 53 games. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson announced prior to the team’s final game of the season that Toews, who was then a pending unrestricted free agent, would not be re-signed.
Toews took the past two seasons off to focus on his health before reaching a deal with the Jets last summer. He posted one assist in his first game against the Blackhawks this season, in Winnipeg on Oct. 30.
“I think it’ll be a pretty cool moment for me,” Toews said of being back in Chicago. “Again, just being able to have a moment to kind of recognize what the game of hockey does for people in Chicago and what it meant for the city … you make a lot of sacrifices in your life and you kind of put a lot of things on the back burner, but the payoff is incredible to be able to be a part of championship teams that bring such an energy and inspiration to the city.
“I’m looking forward to going back there, playing that [game] and kind of reliving those moments.”
Winnipeg enters Monday’s game with wins in four of their past five games and points in all of them, working their way back up the standings after an 11-game winless skid.
The Blackhawks are just one point ahead of the Jets, sitting six points back of the San Jose Sharks for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.