There was so much positive to think about when Winnipeg’s favourite son, Jonathan Toews, signed with the Jets this past summer. It was a great story.
Toews would return to the NHL after two seasons. The Jets would score the second-line centre they have coveted for years. It was to be a storybook finish to a great player’s career.
And no one thought it was a bad idea. Not one person. To see the great Toews wear his customary No. 19 in Winnipeg blue was going to be tremendous.
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So after 30 games this season, for both the Jets and Toews, this has been anything but a storybook finish. The hockey club recorded its 15th regulation loss Thursday night (which, by the way, last season, happened in late January), and Toews, after playing a season low of 8:36 on Tuesday versus the Dallas Stars, was shut out on the scoresheet against the Boston Bruins, for the 22nd time this season.
In many ways, on many nights, the former Chicago Blackhawks captain hasn’t been noticeable. And when he has been noticed, it’s because he’s behind the play or made a mistake.
To a man, Jets co-owner and chairman Mark Chipman, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff and head coach Scott Arniel all talk about Toews’ great attitude, his leadership, his willingness to share. And that surely can’t be debated. Toews’ illustrious resume should be an asset for the Jets. But is his play good enough to help this team? Is the gap of two and a half years just too darn long? Is the speed of the NHL in 2025 just too fast?
Perhaps many of us overvalued what he was going to bring to this team. But he hasn’t scored in 14 games, and leads the team in a stat that no player wants to lead, at minus-13. At some point, his on-ice contributions have to come close to those off-ice intangibles. And please, I know he had chronic inflammatory response syndrome, and his comeback is a great story. But great stories don’t win games.
This may not be a popular thing to say, but the Toews experiment just isn’t working. At what point do we say that there’s a younger player (like Parker Ford) who could use the roster spot, and the ice time?
And to those who say, his real value is for “Game 83,” you have to get to the playoffs to take advantage of that talent. And right now, Toews isn’t helping enough to get to the playoffs.
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