Jonathan Toews will return to the Blackhawks’ lineup Saturday against the Devils.
Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
Jonathan Toews will indeed wear a Blackhawks jersey in a game again this season. In fact, he will do so Saturday.
Just four days after returning to practice, the Hawks’ captain will be in the lineup against the Devils at the United Center — much sooner than expected. It’s now possible he could make as many as seven appearances (including two more at home after Saturday) before the season ends March 13.
“He’s like, ‘Well, it’s not going to be perfect. It might be ugly,’” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “I said, We’re a little bit ugly right now, so you’ll fit.’
“He’s such a veteran, he knows what he can handle. I don’t think he would touch it if it was something he couldn’t handle. So you trust that about him. He has really high expectations when he plays on himself and the team, which is great. That’s why he’s the captain.”
Toews said Tuesday he has felt improvement — albeit painstakingly slow improvement — since his health issues became so dire after his last appearance Jan. 28 that he needed to take a leave of absence from the team. He has missed 27 consecutive games since.
Toews then said Friday he has felt further improvement since Tuesday, when he rejoined the team after a few days of skating on his own.
“Not only have things progressed for me on the health side, but just being on the ice and being in a few practices was always going to be an adjustment when you’ve had a month or two off,” he said. “It’s nice to get those practices under my belt and feel like I’m getting better day-by-day.
“The recovery aspect was always pretty hard because...when your immune system is always firing off, you feel that inflammation 10 times more than you would normally. It makes every little thing much more difficult. That’s getting a lot better. Everything is seeming to calm down at this point.”
He alluded Tuesday to these coming weeks potentially being his last as a Hawk — due to his expiring contract this summer — but he said Friday he’s nowhere near making a long-term decision about whether or not to retire this summer.
“I haven’t gotten too far down that rabbit hole,” he said. “But I would imagine the thought is, ‘When you remember how long and hard a season can be, you know if you either got it or you don’t.’
“I don’t feel like, with what I’ve been through this year and this past season, that I have enough clarity on what that decision will be. I’m just doing my best every day to get healthy and get back into a good place mentally and physically. I think either that decision will be clear for me this summer, or it’ll be a situation where I’m really feeling good...ready to train and prepare to get myself to a place where I can play high-level hockey again.”
This story will be updated.
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