Blackhawks fans cheer Toews in emotional return to Chicago

CHICAGO -- Jonathan Toews kept taking spins around center ice. Even when the former Chicago Blackhawks captain thought he had gotten more than enough applause from United Center fans in his return to Chicago, the fans disagreed and kept cheering for him to bask in the moment.

Toews, now with the Winnipeg Jets, wasn’t sure how he was going to react when the video montage honoring his return was going to play during the first television timeout of the game. There’s no doubt he was appreciative and probably holding in some emotions, the 37-year-old taking a deep breath as the video montage ended and another deep breath as play was about to resume.

Fans held up “Welcome Back 19” signs and some even threw hats onto the ice.

“It blew me away, obviously," Toews said. "It’s a crazy moment. To get that reception from the fans is pretty special. It’s something I’ll remember forever."

It was Toews’ first appearance at United Center since playing his final game with the Blackhawks on April 13, 2023. At the end of the 2022-23 season, the Blackhawks chose not to re-sign Toews, who was limited to 124 games from the start of the 2020-21 season to the end of the 2022-23 season. He missed the entire 2020-21 season because of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, and was out from Feb. 21-April 1, 2023, when he was dealing with the effects of long COVID-19.

“I guess you don’t think that far ahead,” he said prior to the game. “Even this season, I definitely had the game marked on the calendar but was focusing on the next game and it kind of sneaks up on you. And here we are.”

Even before the video montage, fans were applauding Toews every chance they got. It started when he took the ice for warmups, which had a bigger crowd present for them than usual. He got a great reception again as he was shown on the video board when warmups ended and again as national anthem singer Jim Cornelison sang “O Canada.”

It was quite the night for Toews, who never imagined he’d be back in Chicago with the Jets, his hometown team.

"I tried to do my best to take it all in and really savour it," Toews said. "To really appreciate the love from the fans. Obviously, I spent some special years here in Chicago and that’s what made playing for the Blackhawks so great. Winning championships and all of that stuff aside, just playing for a sports team in this city and calling this home for as long as I did was just incredible. I can’t thank them enough. It will always be home and has a special place in my heart.”