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Stepping on the ice for this season’s opening game signified far more than a return to routine for one of the NHL’s most decorated veterans.
Jonathan Toews – the former Chicago Blackhawks captain who led the club to three Stanley Cups in six seasons – was not only making his debut for his hometown Winnipeg Jets. He was playing his first NHL game in two and a half years.
“You want to soak it in,” he said. “It was more just trying to enjoy the surreal journey of being away from hockey for so long – the most time I’ve ever taken off since I was a kid playing – and then having the chance to do it not only in my hometown but in the NHL again.”
Two extended trips to India helped set that journey’s direction. For two one-month stretches, in 2023 and 2024, the 37-year-old center undertook a rigorous detoxification program designed to help him recover from chronic respiratory problems and to quiet the relentless self-criticism that had dominated his career.
Toews’ impact in the NHL was immediate. In his 2007–08 rookie season, he led all first-years in goals. In his second, Chicago named him captain at just 20. By his third, he had led the Blackhawks to the first of three titles and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.
He added the Frank J Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward in 2015, four NHL All-Star appearances and two Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2010 and 2014. Toews’ impact became so significant that the NHL named him one of its 100 greatest players in 2017, the league’s centennial year. But success was taking a toll.
Since his teens, Toews had battled digestive and immunity issues that affected his sleep. At 21 he adopted a punishing regime of supplements and treatments, part of what earned him the nickname “Captain Serious”.
“I was doing all sorts of different things and taking supplements,” he said. “My daily routine of recovery and performance was just nonstop, and I was overdoing a lot of different things.”
His production began to wane. After career highs of 35 goals and 46 assists in 2018–19, he scored just 18 goals the following season. He missed the entire 2020–21 campaign with chronic inflammatory response syndrome, the result of contracting Covid-19. His trademark intensity, once an asset, had begun to work against him.
“I was making myself miserable,” Toews said. “Letting that anger and frustration pour over until I finally got the result I wanted.”
His final season in Chicago, 2022–23, brought a career-low 16 assists, a year after posting a career-worst 12 goals. When the Blackhawks chose not to renew his contract, Toews reached a crossroads.
“I was really exhausted and unwell,” he said. “I needed some time to create space in my life, let my body heal, let my mind heal, and just let the dust settle. When you’re living at a fast pace for a long time, there are parts of you that are in survival mode. You learn how to do things a certain way, and you stick to what works.
“But what brings you to a certain place isn’t necessarily what’s going to take you to the next level. I had some learning and growing up to do. I needed to reassess why I was doing what I was doing, to find my love for hockey again and get back to a place where I was enjoying life and not putting so much pressure on myself.”
In summer 2023, Toews turned to Ayurveda, a traditional Indian medical practice incorporating herbal remedies, a vegetarian diet, meditation and cleansing treatments. After months of changing his diet and taking herbal tinctures, he travelled to India in September 2023 for a month-long panchakarma detox program.
The first two weeks involved yoga, prayer, enemas, painful massage and mud baths designed to draw toxins from the body. That was followed by five days of consuming a ghee-based herbal tonic. Then came the most extreme stage: vomiting induced by drinking four liters of milk, four liters of salt water and four liters of an herbal decoction.
“It’s definitely a rollercoaster ride,” Toews said. “You feel like you’re just depressed and down in the dumps. Then the next thing you know, you’re pushing a lot of toxins out of your cells and tissue. You can feel it. Then suddenly you’re feeling this lightness and clarity and energy.
“It was remembering what it felt like to be a 13-year-old kid again, where you just have this complete clarity and natural energy. It was nice to feel that and have some tangible evidence that you’re moving in the right direction.”
He returned to India for a five-week session last autumn, signed an incentive-laden deal with a $2m base salary on 1 July, and made his Jets debut on 9 October before a capacity crowd of 15,225 at Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre.
“It was electric,” said Paul Edmonds, the Jets’ play-by-play radio broadcaster. “There was a lot of anticipation. He left at 14 to go to school in Minnesota and never came back to play again. Fans across the province wondered if this dream would ever come true.”
The dream came with a dose of reality. With centres Adam Lowry (hip surgery) and Nikolaj Ehlers (free agency) unavailable, the Jets installed Toews as their de facto No 2 center. In the first 12 games without Lowry, he contributed two goals and five assists while averaging 16min 16sec of ice time.
“We were going to be thin through the middle, but Jonathan has stabilised things,” said Winnipeg’s coach, Scott Arniel. “He’s allowed us to get some secondary scoring while getting himself back up and running – getting back to NHL pace, a new team, different teammates.”
His reputation eased the transition. “He’s been seamless in the dressing room,” Arniel said. “He’s part of our leadership group and right in the middle of everything. When he speaks, the guys listen because of all he’s encountered in his career.”
That influence is felt on the ice, too. “It’s been fun playing with him,” said winger Alex Iafallo, who started the season on Toews’ line. “He fit right in. He’s done a great job understanding our structure and how we play. For him to come in and play the way he has is pretty spectacular.”
Mark Scheifele, the franchise’s all-time scoring leader, said Toews has elevated his own game.
“He has such a wealth of knowledge, so much experience,” Scheifele said. “He’s so good at faceoffs, so good at being in the right area, strong on the puck. The little details of the game that people don’t notice are the things I’ve learned.”
For Toews, the lessons from India have softened an edge that once cut too sharply.
“I used to be the type of person who drove myself constantly,” he said. “Now it’s more of a gentle process – being patient, finding the fun and creative process of working on your game, and just being in the present moment.”
Arniel put it simply: “He’s done a great job. He’s like a little kid again.”
