Jonathan Toews, Jets agree to 1-year deal: Why Winnipeg, and what’s the risk?

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By Sarah Jean Maher, Murat Ates and Scott Powers

Jonathan Toews’ NHL comeback attempt got all the more real on Friday as the 37-year-old centre and his hometown Winnipeg Jets have agreed to terms on a one-year deal, the club announced Friday. The deal will go into effect on July 1.

The longtime Chicago Blackhawks captain hasn’t played since April 2023. The Blackhawks opted not to re-sign him after the 2022-23 season, and Toews sat out the next two seasons. He also missed the 2020-21 season recovering from Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and symptoms of long COVID.

The contract is heavy on bonuses. A league source said the contract pays $2 million in base salary with another $5 million available in potential bonuses:

• $550,000 each for 20/30/40/50/60 games played
• $500,000 if the Jets make the playoffs and Toews plays 50 games
• $250,000 each for Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 wins (with Toews playing 50 percent of games)
• $1 million for a Stanley Cup win (with Toews playing 50 percent of games)

“We are excited to add a proven winner like Jonathan Toews to the Winnipeg Jets,” said Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. “It will be a unique opportunity for Jonathan to play for his hometown team. His talent, drive, and experience will be a great complement to our club. We will withhold further comment until July 1.”

Toews told The Athletic in March he was seeking a return to the NHL: “I want to go have fun, have a blast, play with passion. But at the same time, I still have some high-level hockey left. I want to be able to step away from the game having said that I’ve given it my all. And I still think there’s something left to give.”

“I’m grateful to be making my return to the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets,” Toews said in a release. “It’s very special to come home and play in front of my family and friends in Manitoba. The Jets have been on the rise over the last few seasons and I’m eager to join the group and help however I can.”

Toews played 15 seasons with the Blackhawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Toews contracted COVID-19 in February 2020, before the pandemic erupted in the U.S., and his symptoms included fatigue, digestive issues, labored breathing, and his arms and legs feeling like lead weights. Toews’ doctors labeled his mystery illness as Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, which cost him the entire 2020-21 season.

Toews returned for the 2021-22 season and appeared in 71 games while adjusting to playing with his new health circumstances. The next season, he played 53 games before once again shutting it down due to his health.

“The entire Blackhawks organization would like to congratulate Jonathan and welcome him back to the NHL,” the Blackhawks wrote in a statement. “The work he’s done over the past two years to make his return is a testament to his resiliency and determination – the same qualities that our fans fell in love with and continue to define him as a player.”

What it means for the Jets

Winnipeg has been looking for a second-line centre for ages and has turned over plenty of rocks to do so. Toews gives them a homegrown bet with three Cup wins, one Conn Smythe Trophy, two Olympic gold medals, a ton of cachet and a sizable question mark as to just how good he can be at this stage of his career.

The kid from St. Vital is coming home. pic.twitter.com/8Gh9EmziGQ

— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) June 20, 2025

As a UFA, all Toews costs is cash, so Winnipeg’s bet on him as a potential 2C — or as a third-line centre if the Jets run Adam Lowry’s line as hard as they’ve done for the past three seasons — is highly sensible. The Jets will be able to take a good, long look at Toews’ ability ahead of the deadline before looking for any additional upgrades. And even if Toews struggles to make a top six impact, he’s been such a strong faceoff performer throughout his career that he’ll be dependable as a depth option who can be trusted for key defensive zone draws — something the Jets don’t often trust their current 2C, Vladislav Namestnikov, to do.

As long as Toews’ health holds, that is.

“Knowing Jonathan and knowing what standard he holds himself to as an athlete, and what impact he wants to have in games when he plays, I think it will be an interesting journey to watch how things unfold with him,” Cheveldayoff said prior to the trade deadline. “I think it would be a great story for his career, too. Not that he needs another story to his career. But I think he’s proud of his roots and would be an interesting fit.” — Murat Ates, Jets beat writer

What is the risk?

One of the lessons we took away from Florida and Edmonton’s success, specifically as it applies to Winnipeg, is that the Jets need to throw more darts just like this one. What they’ve added via Toews’ commitment is the opportunity to fill a hole, with very little cost.

If Toews’ health fails him — or if, at 37, he’s unable to achieve a level of play befitting the Jets’ joy at signing him — the downside is limited. Pierre LeBrun reported his contract is expected to be one year in duration, limiting both sides’ exposure to risk. It’s likely it’s a bonus-laden deal, which helps keep Winnipeg’s expenditures in line with Toews’ accomplishments, further mitigating the Jets’ risk. — Ates

Why not the Blackhawks?

If Toews did ever return to the NHL, it was a safe bet he wouldn’t be with the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks closed that door permanently — at least from an on-ice standpoint — at the end of the 2022-23 season.

There was a sense Toews would have kept playing if the Blackhawks had re-signed him, but general manager Kyle Davidson was commencing a full rebuild, and that meant parting with Toews and Patrick Kane, who had been traded earlier that season.

While Kane and Toews are expected to someday have statues outside the United Center, their returns as players would have to come with other teams. For Kane, it was the Detroit Red Wings. Now, for Toews, it’ll be the Jets.

“Really happy for him,” Kane told The Athletic in a text message. “Excited he gets to experience something new and different. I know he’s worked really hard to come back.” — Scott Powers, Blackhawks beat writer

What does Toews have left in the tank?

Aside from not fitting the Blackhawks’ rebuild timeline, Toews wasn’t nearly the player he had built his career on in Chicago. Toews’ game fell off over his last few seasons with the Blackhawks, and he wasn’t nearly as productive and consistent or as much of a two-way player as he once was. Some of that has to do with his autoimmune issues and long COVID, but Father Time also appeared to catch up to him as he moved into his 30s. The Blackhawks’ decline also corresponded with Toews’. He could still be relied upon to win faceoffs and contribute on the power play and penalty kill, and would show glimpses of his old self, but his body just wouldn’t allow him to reach the levels he once did consistently. — Powers

How does this affect Winnipeg’s plans?

The immediate offshoot of Winnipeg earning Toews’ commitment is that it’s safe to assume the Jets will make their first-round pick at No. 28. The odds of them trading that pick were always low — although there was a good argument for them to try, if it led to a solid candidate to upgrade Winnipeg’s top-six forward group. We’ve seen the Jets trade their first-round pick several times for players who ultimately didn’t sign in Winnipeg, most recently for Sean Monahan. We know they tried to do the same for Brock Nelson at the trade deadline. Toews’ arrival gives the Jets enough short-term runway to hold on to draft capital, make their picks and assess their needs midseason instead of taking a bigger swing at a different second-line centre now.

As for Nikolaj Ehlers, Toews accomplishes two things. The first is that it reaffirms the obvious: Winnipeg is doing what it can to win, maximizing a Stanley Cup window that depends on veteran players on the wrong side of 30. The second is less obvious: One of the reasons Winnipeg’s “second line” of Namestnikov, Ehlers and Cole Perfetti was often used as a third line was its lack of faceoff acumen. There were situations wherein coach Scott Arniel didn’t trust Namestnikov to win a key faceoff, necessitating Lowry, Mark Scheifele or Winnipeg’s fourth line to step in. Toews, if nothing else, is a faceoff star — someone who will earn his line extra shifts, whether he succeeds in the top six or not.

Ehlers is still expected to explore the UFA market — and it’s still expected that he finds opportunity, money and a city fit outside of Winnipeg — but the door is not slammed shut. — Ates

— The Athletic’s Chris Johnston contributed to this report.

(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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