Hockey Says Goodbye to a Great 3-Time Cup Winner
When I heard Jonathan Toews was retiring, my first thought was that it felt like the end of a certain kind of hockey player. He wasn’t the most talented player. Not the most exciting player. Just the kind of player every coach wanted, every teammate respected, and every fan secretly wished played for their team.
Toews never needed to be a star; he just was.
Toews was never the guy who needed the spotlight. He wasn't interested in making himself the story. He just showed up, did his job, won hockey games, and somehow made everyone around him a little better. That's a pretty good way to spend a career.
And what a career it was. He played 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and a single season with the Winnipeg Jets. In that time, he won three Stanley Cups. A Conn Smythe Trophy. A Selke Trophy. Two Olympic gold medals. Membership in the Triple Gold Club. Nearly 400 goals. More than 900 points. Those are impressive numbers, but honestly, that's not what I'll remember most.
Related: Jonathan Toews Dream Comeback Meets a Cruel Reality.
His last season with the Jets, for me, was his most impressive.
What I'll remember is how dependable he was. When the game got difficult, Toews usually seemed to get better. When the pressure was highest, he looked calmer than everyone else on the ice. There was never much drama with him. No endless attention-seeking. No need to make everything about himself. He just played hockey.
I also have a lot of respect for the way he handled the later years of his career. The health issues could have easily ended things much earlier. Instead, he fought his way back, worked through the challenges, and got himself back onto an NHL ice surface. That took a tremendous amount of determination.
Do fans appreciate just how good Toews was?
The funny thing is that younger fans may never fully appreciate how important he was during those Chicago championship years. People talk about the goals and the stars, and rightly so, but every great team needs players who make winning their first priority.
That was Toews. He cared about faceoffs. He cared about details. He cared about defending. He cared about doing all the little things that don't always show up in the highlights but somehow show up in the standings.
Those players aren't always appreciated while they're playing. Sometimes you don't realize how valuable they were until they're gone. That's probably true here too.
There’s no question Toews is headed to the Hall of Fame.
As Toews walks away from the game, he leaves behind a remarkable legacy. Not because he was the loudest player. Not because he was the flashiest player. Because he was one of the best leaders hockey has seen in a generation.
And frankly, hockey could use a few more players like Jonathan Toews. Let’s hope they are there, but we just don’t know it yet.