{"id":243144,"date":"2025-10-14T07:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/243144\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T07:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T07:49:15","slug":"jonathan-toews-reaches-another-milestone-in-his-nhl-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/243144\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Toews reaches another milestone in his NHL comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jonathan Toews<\/a> reached another milestone in his NHL comeback on Monday, recording his first point in nearly 2 1\/2 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess when you put it that way it\u2019s nice to get the monkey off your back,\u201d Toews said after he and the Winnipeg Jets beat the New York Islanders<\/a> 5-2.<\/p>\n

Toews helped set up Nino Niederreiter\u2019s power-play goal in the Jets\u2019 third game of the season and picked up a secondary assist. Toews last got on the scoresheet April 14, 2023, in his final game with Chicago before stepping away from hockey because of health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelt like I had a few chances to score, too,\u201d Toews said. \u201cHopefully find a way to get that first goal here, too. I think ultimately you just concentrate on making plays, getting around the net, being more confident when the puck comes to you in those dangerous areas. It\u2019s a numbers game. Just got to keep creating and find ways to find the back of the net.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toews, now 37, chose his hometown team to make his return after missing the past two seasons because of the effects of chronic immune response syndrome and long COVID<\/a>. He said he\u2019s feeling good physically while getting up to speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill finding my way a little bit,\u201d Toews said. \u201cIt takes time to become second-nature. And then you have to find your game. You\u2019ve got to go out there and relax a little bit. The first couple games I felt like I was getting tired late in shifts, because you\u2019re just over-skating everything and over-working yourself. You\u2019d rather be safe than sorry, and sometimes less is more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toews captained Chicago to the Stanley Cup three times, in 2010, \u201813 and \u201915. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP during the franchise\u2019s first championship run since 1961 and in 2016 was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league\u2019s 100-year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s worked hard to come back and feel good, and I think that\u2019s the most important thing is he\u2019s feeling good,\u201d longtime Blackhawks teammate and current Detroit Red Wings winger Patrick Kane said last month. \u201cI\u2019m really happy that he\u2019s back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toews also helped Canada win two Olympic gold medals. Those tournaments and world championships are the only times he and Kane have faced off against each other since breaking in together with the Blackhawks in \u201907.<\/p>\n

Assuming they\u2019re healthy, that is set to change on Dec. 31 when Winnipeg visits Detroit. Kane already asked coach Todd McLellan to put him out for the opening faceoff against the former teammate with whom he\u2019ll forever be linked.<\/p>\n

Asked before camp opened if he thought Toews \u2014 nicknamed \u201cCaptain Serious\u201d for his low-key demeanor \u2014 has mellowed over the years, Kane shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Kane said. \u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s pissed off about something. Someone said something about him, or he\u2019s always got to prove someone wrong. That\u2019s a great thing about Johnny. He\u2019s always out to prove something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toews is proving he still has it, averaging over 17 minutes of ice time as the Jets\u2019 second-line center. Coach Scott Arniel used Toews on the penalty kill against the Islanders after forward Cole Koepke got injured blocking a shot, but the staff is trying not to overplay him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s getting better every day,\u201d Arniel said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we talked about, him and I, that it wasn\u2019t going to come in one fell swoop. Every day, he\u2019s gotten better and better and I think he\u2019s recognizing just how to kind of play the game with his hockey smarts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does veteran things. He does elite things, whether it\u2019s using his body or his stick or his positioning and you\u2019re just seeing him getting more and more comfortable: getting comfortable with our team and how we play but also his linemates and different people, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next task is a long shot bid to make Canada\u2019s Olympic team one more time in NHL players\u2019 return to the Games in Milan in February. He\u2019d also like to help the Jets win the Cup for the first time, and his teammates love having Toews around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the leadership he has, the things he\u2019s done in this league, and there\u2019s nothing that he hasn\u2019t done,\u201d Tanner Pearson said. \u201cIt goes a long way. (He) helps us along. He\u2019s very vocal in the room, says the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jonathan Toews reached another milestone in his NHL comeback on Monday, recording his first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5121],"tags":[4260,5,3258,3445,78,3862,159,4,292,1189,2821,4227,43,3698,1930,77,18,5288],"class_list":{"0":"post-243144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg-jets","8":"tag-cole-koepke","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-il-state-wire","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-jets","13":"tag-jonathan-toews","14":"tag-new-york-islanders","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-nhl-hockey","17":"tag-nino-niederreiter","18":"tag-patrick-kane","19":"tag-scott-arniel","20":"tag-sports","21":"tag-tanner-pearson","22":"tag-todd-mclellan","23":"tag-winnipeg","24":"tag-winnipeg-jets","25":"tag-winnipegjets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115371426687568965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}