Jonathan Toews Retires After Three Stanley Cup Titles, Comeback Season

Three-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Toews announced his retirement on Friday, June 19 after his one-season comeback with the Winnipeg Jets.

The former Chicago Blackhawks captain had joined his hometown Jets in 2025-26 after missing two years with health issues. He played all 82 games, finishing with 11 goals, 18 assists and 29 points.

Toews, 38, was a standout with the Blackhawks, recording 372 goals, 511 assists and 883 points in 1,067 career-regular season games over 15 seasons. He was named captain at age 20, and "Captain Serious" helped the team win Stanley Cup titles in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

Toews said winning one Stanley Cup — let alone three — was surreal.

"When (Patrick Kane) scored that (2010 overtime) goal, I think I was one of the last guys off the bench," he said during his retirement announcement at the Jonathan Toews Sportsplex in Winnipeg. "I wasn't ready to let go until I knew for sure that it was over. Next thing you know, you're hoisting the Cup and you have it back home and in your living room and you're just like, 'How is this happening to me right now?'"

Toews won the 2010 Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after leading all postseason scorers with 29 points as the Blackhawks ended a 49-year championship drought.

He won the Selke Trophy as top defensive forward during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. The Blackhawks opened that season with a 24-game point streak and captured the Stanley Cup. He had 21 points in 23 games during the 2015 Cup run.

He also won Olympic gold medals with Canada in 2010 and 2014, scoring in both championship games.

Toews' final years in Chicago were marked by health issues.

He missed the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season because of chronic immune response syndrome and also sat out for two months in 2021-22 because of the effects of that and of long COVID. After playing in 2022-23, he skipped two seasons in order to get healthy.

After his comeback season, he was a finalist for the Masterton Trophy for perseverance.

"Sometimes I catch myself wishing that things had gone differently and I could have finished my career on a different note these last five years or so, but truth be told, I'm grateful for the struggle and learning experience I've been through," he said. "Ironically, I feel I've learned so much more about myself and about life through the low points than I ever did when my career was at its heights."

Is Jonathan Toews a Hall of Famer?

Easily. He was a captain of three Stanley Cup championship teams and won several individual awards.

The Hall of Fame also factors in international play and he won two Olympic gold medals. He's a member of the triple gold club, winning a Stanley Cup, Olympics and world championships.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jonathan Toews retires, won three Stanley Cups as Blackhawks captain