Jonathan Toews may not be done with Chicago just yet.
A little more than a month after he announced his retirement following one season with his hometown Winnipeg Jets, the former Blackhawks captain is trending toward one last official tie to the franchise where he built his Hall-of-Fame case. Nothing has been made official, but the buzz has only grown that Toews will eventually sign a ceremonial one-day contract so he can retire as a Blackhawk.
That possibility has picked up steam in the wake of Patrick Kane’s return to Chicago. Kane signed a two-year contract with the Blackhawks last week after stops in New York and Detroit, and the reunion has brought Toews back into the conversation almost immediately.
On the Pardon My Take podcast after his return, Kane said he had already floated the idea of another comeback to his longtime teammate.
"I said, 'Hey, maybe you come back for a year?'" Kane laughed. "He was like, 'I'm thinking about it.'"
Kane was clearly joking about playing again, but the exchange underscored how close the two franchise icons remain. It also kept the idea of Toews returning to Chicago in some capacity very much alive.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson added more fuel during Kane’s introductory press conference. Asked about the possibility of bringing Toews back so he could officially retire with the organization, Davidson didn’t shut it down.
"We'd love to have Jonathan back and bring him back," Davidson said. "We did it with Marian Hossa. Nothing is set in stone or anything, but I think it is likely we'll go down that path."
Davidson later made the team’s view even clearer.
"Jonathan is a Blackhawk for life with everything he's contributed to this city," he said.
That kind of language fits a player who spent 15 seasons in Chicago after the Blackhawks selected him third overall in the 2006 NHL Draft. Toews captained the club to Stanley Cup titles in 2010, 2013 and 2015, won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2010 and the Selke Trophy in 2013, and finished his Blackhawks career with 372 goals and 883 points in 1,067 regular-season games before stepping away after the 2022-23 season.
Toews then stepped away from the NHL for two years to focus on his health before signing with Winnipeg for the 2025-26 season. His retirement announcement came after that campaign, during an emotional press conference at the Jonathan Toews Sportsplex inside the Dakota Community Centre in Winnipeg’s St.
Vital neighbourhood, the rink where he first learned to play hockey. The facility had been renamed in his honor after Chicago’s first Stanley Cup championship in 49 years in 2010.
If the expected reunion happens, Toews would get one final chance to close the book where it all started: in the Blackhawks sweater he first put on in 2006, exactly 20 years ago.
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