- Darren Dreger says Jonathan Toews is “likely” retiring after his one-year Jets comeback
- Toews played all 82 games for Winnipeg, finishing with 11 goals and 18 assists
- Read below for full details on the three-Cup Blackhawks legend’s likely exit
Jonathan Toews looks like he’s done.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Wednesday morning that the 38-year-old Winnipeg Jets center is leaning toward retirement after a one-year comeback nobody saw coming:
Dreger stops short of calling it official, but he doesn’t toss this kind of read out there without good reason. Toews took two full seasons away from the game to manage Chronic Immune Response Syndrome and Long COVID before signing with his hometown Jets last summer. Then he did the unthinkable and played all 82 games.
He finished with 11 goals, 18 assists, and a minus-20 rating on a Winnipeg team that limped to 35-35-12 and missed the playoffs at 7th in the Central. Not the storybook ending anyone scripted, but the durability piece alone was a win at his age.
The Jets made his October debut feel like an event:
That night in Winnipeg was the whole reason this comeback existed. Toews grew up in Manitoba and always said he wanted to wear the Jets sweater. He kept showing up after the curtain call too, game after game, on a club falling apart around him.
Chicago is where the legacy lives. Three Stanley Cups as captain in 2010, 2013, and 2015. A Conn Smythe in 2010. Fifteen seasons in red and black with Patrick Kane next to him, anchoring one of hockey’s last true dynasties.
And the United Center crowd hasn’t forgotten any of it:
His first return to Chicago as a Jet drew a four-minute standing ovation that left him in tears. The Blackhawks handled the moment the way you’d hope.
If this is the end, Toews closes at 383 goals, 529 assists, and 912 points across 1,149 regular-season games, with a plus-128 mark over 16 active seasons. He said in April he hadn’t ruled out a 17th year but only wanted it if it meant playing for Winnipeg again.
Dreger’s read says that probably isn’t happening.
