PHILADELPHIA — Jonathan Toews has become increasingly philosophical.
Confronted by two of the toughest decisions he has faced in his career, the Blackhawks’ captain uses that philosophical perspective to help put the situation in proper context.
“Sometimes you get antsy, and you want answers, and you want things to be clear, and you want certainty in life,” Toews told the Sun-Times on Thursday, softly and carefully. “I guess it’s not the case I’m in right now.”
Toews must decide by the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline if he’ll accept (or request) a move to a new team for the first time or play out the rest of the season with the Hawks. And he must decide by July if he’ll sign another contract — with the Hawks or another team — and continue his career or retire after 15 seasons. He’ll be 35 by then.
While Toews has come to grips with his impatience and reality’s complexity, he still doesn’t know what his brain and body need.
There are simply too many large, looming unknowns for him to know what’s best. It’s difficult to chart a path on a gray map, after all. The deadline’s timing and his contract’s no-trade clause will allow him to wait to decide.
“There are a lot of different scenarios that are even difficult to think about because I don’t know what it looks like,” he said. “I don’t even know what the next few months look like. I don’t know what next year looks like. And likewise for myself.
“I don’t know what our team looks like, as far as if guys are being traded to other teams or whatever the situation might be, [and] if that changes things. There’s a lot of things that might be there, and I have no idea how that impacts me. A lot of people ask me if I’m looking at other teams and other options for myself at the end of this year. [But], really, I’m just focused on my game.”
Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson said last weekend he expected to meet with Toews, Patrick Kane and their agent, Pat Brisson, within the “next couple of weeks or so” for initial conversations. Kane’s leanings — he has disclosed virtually nothing publicly — likely also will affect Toews’ thought process.
If Toews allows Davidson to explore the trade market, forward-seeking contenders who might be interested include the Avalanche, Flames, Wild, Hurricanes (who just lost Max Pacioretty to another injury) and Jets (who would represent a homecoming for Toews, a Winnipeg native).
But Toews’ cap hit, which started the season at $10.5 million, will be a major hindrance to any of those suitors. There’s no guarantee the Hawks could even make a trade if given the green light. For that reason, even once he makes his decision, Toews and the Hawks might not announce it to avoid an awkward post-deadline return (as Willson Contreras experienced with the Cubs last season).
Another possible issue is Toews’ health. He has missed only one game — although quite a few practices — this season and has demonstrated throughout his career the determination to play through bumps and bruises, but an injury or a general lack of stamina might be slowing him down nonetheless.
Toews, through uncharacteristic brevity, and coach Luke Richardson, by discussing workload management in response to a general question about Toews, hinted Thursday at something going on behind the scenes.
Said Toews: “I am where I’m at. Just trying to improve every day.”
Said Richardson: “He’s so strong on the puck and strong on his stick that if he has a little jump in his step out there, he’s a dominant player. That’s what we’re trying to do. Even [after sitting out practice Wednesday], he doesn’t need to be on the ice every day. [After] a quick skate this morning just to loosen up, he’ll be ready to go again. Managing time on the ice is beneficial for a guy that has a lot of mileage on him.”
In spite of all he’s juggling mentally and physically, Toews is enjoying his most productive stretch since the first 11 games of the season, nine of which he had a point in. From a cynical viewpoint, that’s one positive factor for his trade value, but that thought certainly hasn’t crossed his mind.
In fact, he was surprised Thursday to hear that he had six points in his previous six games, a surge he increased to seven in seven by scoring against the Flyers. He has been so focused on his day-to-day routine that he had no idea.
“When you’re worried about points or scoring goals, and you’re worried about the end result,” he said, “especially when we came out of the [Christmas] break with three pretty ugly games on the road and the feeling wasn’t too hot in the room again, [but we can’t be] worried about the results as opposed to just the process.”
Toews’ offensive spike has coincided with the Hawks’ out-of-the-blue 5-1-0 streak. In the Hawks’ 13 victories, he has 13 points. In their 30 losses, he has only 14.
His line with much younger wingers Philipp Kurashev and Taylor Raddysh has developed strong chemistry. On Tuesday against the Sabres, they produced one of the best performances by any Hawks trio all season.
“We were playing relaxed and playing with the puck and keeping plays alive and giving each other outs, and eventually things just develop,” Toews said. “And our confidence just builds from there. We created chances every time we had the puck, so it was nice to just have that feeling.”
Circling back to the elephant, Toews would like to find that same confidence when it comes to plotting his future. It has eluded him so far, though.
He insisted he isn’t tired of getting asked about the topic, which was probably a lie.
But his uncertainty about the trade-or-no-trade and retire-or-don’t-retire questions seems to be a sincere, if frustrating, truth.
“Things haven’t really taken shape yet,” he said. “It’s definitely a unique position that I haven’t been in before. I have nothing but good memories and gratitude for everything that has happened in Chicago and my career here and what this organization has meant to my family and myself. We’ll see, one way or another.”
