Jonathan Toews to play last game as a Blackhawk

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three-time Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews played his last game with the Blackhawks on Thursday, after the team confirmed it won't be resigning him this offseason.

"I've had a number of conversations with Jonathan throughout the season about his future with the Blackhawks, and recently, we had the difficult conversation that we won't be re-signing him this offseason," GM Kyle Davidson said in a statement the team posted on Twitter. "Tonight will be his final game as a Blackhawk, and it was very important for us to be able to provide the proper send off for Jonathan and our fans. He has done so much for this organization, and no matter where he plays next, we're excited for our fans to get the chance to show Jonathan exactly how much he means to them."

The Blackhawks hosted the Philadelphia Flyers at the United Center Thursday night. The Blackhawks lost 5-4 in overtime.

Toews missed two months of this season with symptoms of long COVID-19 and chronic immune response syndrome this season, after missing the entire 2020-21 season due to those illnesses.

Toews has been asked a hundred different ways what's next after the season ends, with his contract expiring this summer.

"I don't really have an answer right now. I'm just trying to the last few days of the season here with this group, and it's easy to think in terms of hypotheticals, of what it would be like to be in a different city, a new situation, kind of a fresh start, and just what that would feel like, and the energy that would give you," he said.

With the Blackhawks now confirming they won't be bringing him back, it's unclear if Toews will try to sign with another team, or choose to retire. He has suggested either option is a possibility in recent weeks.

"It's definitely on my mind that this could be my last few weeks here in Chicago as a Blackhawk," he said after returning to practice in late March. "It's definitely very important for me to just go up there and just enjoy the game, and just kind of soak it in. … I just really appreciate everything I've been able to be part of here in Chicago, and show my appreciation to the fans as well."

Toews, 34, helped lead the Blackhawks to three Stanley Cup championships in six years from 2010 through 2015, but the team hasn't made it past the first round of the playoffs since their last title, and has missed the playoffs altogether five of the past seven years, including this season, when they've already been eliminated from postseason contention.

During their run of Stanley Cup titles, Toews was one of the best two-way forwards in the league, winning the Selke Trophy in 2013 as the league's best defensive forward, and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2010 as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Toews was the final Blackhawks player still on the roster from their last Stanley Cup championship in 2015, after Patrick Kane was traded to the Rangers at the end of February.

He has spent his entire stellar 16-year career with the Blackhawks, 15 of them as captain, making him the longest-tenured team captain in professional Chicago sports history.

"Words fail to adequately summarize everything that Jonathan has done for the organization, the amazing memories that he's provided. He'll be a Blackhawk forever. He's going to forever be known as Chicago's captain," Davidson said. "The Blackhawks organization and the city of Chicago will be forever indebted to him for the amazing ride that he took us on, and wherever he goes and wherever he plays next, he'll be a Blackhawk forever."

Toews ranks 5th in franchise history in games played, 6th in career goals, 8th in career assists, 6th in career points, 7th in career power play goals, 8th in career short-handed goals, and 3rd in career game-winning goals.

But Toews has struggled in recent years, in large part due to his health, which caused him to miss the entire 2020-21 season with symptoms of Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, which caused his immune system to overreact to any form of stress.

While he seemed to be bouncing back this year, his health problems returned in January.

Toews said last month that, after shutting himself down in January, he considered sitting out the rest of the season, but ultimately decided to try to rejoin the team for their final stretch.

"I made the decision to pull myself out, and put myself first to try and take care of my body, and do what's right for myself, and that wasn't an easy decision, obviously," he said. "But having said that, it's kind of getting down to it where these last few games, and like I just mentioned, the thought kind of crosses your mind that this could be it for me in Chicago. So, yeah, it's definitely important for me to try and go out there and really soak that in, and enjoy it, and like I said show my appreciation for the fans as well."

Toews said with the combination of his health struggles and his Blackhawks contract expiring at the end of the season, he's considered possibly playing for another team or calling it a career altogether.

"Both (are possible) if I'm being fully honest," Toews said. "I feel like I've said it already that I've gotten to a point where my health is more important."

Toews said he hasn't been happy with his performance when he's been on the ice in the last few years, but "I feel like I have much more to give with my experience in the game, and knowing how to play the game."

"But, when day after day it's just you're just pushing through pain, it's just like, to what end?" he added. "I think when you're young, and you're playing for a Stanley Cup, and everyone's playing through something, that means something and it's worthwhile; but I'm at that point where it feels like more damage is being done than is a good thing."

Davidson said the team informed Toews on Saturday of the decision not to bring him back after this season, while the team was in Seattle to face the Kraken. He said Toews' health issues were not a factor in his decision.

"This was strictly a decision for what we thought was best for the young players that would come in to step into that role, and just allow the organic growth of leadership skills," Davidson said. "It forces some people to step up and experience things that they wouldn't experience if Jonathan were in the room."

Davidson said it was an "incredibly difficult" decision, noting he and Toews are the same age, and he has watched Toews since his days in junior hockey in Canada, before the Blackhawks drafted him third overall in 2006.

"I got to see first-hand the type of contributions and player he was, and to kind of take that step, and have that conversation was not easy, because of all he's done, and the status that he holds," he said.

Nonetheless, Davidson said he believed it's the right step to take for the Blackhawks, who are in the midst of a major rebuild, and gives the team's young core a chance to develop into the leaders for the team's next run at a Stanley Cup title.

"It's moreso clearing the deck to some extent to allow the organic growth for young players into leadership roles, and offer this new era of Blackhawks players the same opportunity that Toews, [Patrick] Kane, [Duncan] Keith, [Brent] Seabrook, that they were all offered when they came up," he said. "When there's a player like Jonathan or Patrick in your locker room, you defer to them. You just let them handle the leadership, and there's not a lot of development opportunity there. So now we believe that it was something that is beneficial for this next group to allow leaders to emerge, and form that relationship with [coach] Luke [Richardson], form that relationship with myself."

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