For one of the NHL's most decorated veterans, taking the ice for the first game of the season meant much more than just getting back into a routine.
Jonathan Toews – former Chicago Blackhawks The captain who led the franchise to three Stanley Cups in six seasons not only made his debut for his hometown Winnipeg Jets. He played his first NHL game in two and a half years.
“You want to soak it up,” he said. “It was more just trying to enjoy a surreal trip away from hockey for such a long time – the most time I've ever had off since I played as a kid – and then get the chance to do it not only in my hometown, but again in the NHL.”
Two extended trips to India helped shape the direction of this journey. Over two month-long periods in 2023 and 2024, the 37-year-old center put him on a rigorous detoxification program designed to help him recover from chronic respiratory problems and calm the relentless self-criticism that had dominated his career.
Toews' impact on the NHL was immediate. In his debut season in 2007–08, he led all freshmen in goals. On the second occasion, Chicago named him captain at just 20 years old. By the third, he had led the Blackhawks to the first of three titles and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
He added the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward in 2015, four NHL All-Star games and two Olympic gold medals for Team Canada in 2010 and 2014. Toews' impact was so significant that the NHL named him one of the 100 Greatest Players in 2017, the league's centennial year. But success took its toll.
Since his teens, Toews has struggled with digestive and immune problems that affected his sleep. At 21, he adopted a rigorous regimen of supplements and medication, earning him the nickname “Captain Serious.”
“I did different things and took supplements,” he said. “My daily recovery and performance schedule was non-stop, and I was overdoing it on a lot of different things.”
Its production began to decline. 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 due to chronic inflammatory response syndrome as a result of contracting Covid-19. His trademark energy, which was once an asset, began to work against him.
“I was making myself miserable,” Toews said. “Allowing the anger and frustration to boil over until I finally get the results I want.”
His final season in Chicago (2022-23) yielded a career-low 16 assists, a year after he scored a career-worst 12 goals. When the Blackhawks decided not to renew his contract, Toews found himself at a crossroads.
“I was very 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 live at a fast pace for a long time, parts of you are in survival mode. You learn how to do things a certain way and you stick with what works.
“But what takes you to a certain place doesn't necessarily take you to the next level. I needed to learn and mature. I needed to re-evaluate why I do what I do, 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 the summer of 2023, Toews turned to Ayurveda, a traditional Indian medical practice that includes herbal remedies, a vegetarian diet, meditation and cleansing treatments. After several months of changing his diet and taking herbal tinctures, he traveled to India in September 2023 to participate in a month-long Panchakarma detoxification program.
The first two weeks included yoga, prayer, enemas, painful massages and mud baths designed to remove toxins from the body. This was followed by five days of drinking a ghee-based herbal tonic. Then came the most extreme stage: vomiting caused by drinking four liters of milk, four liters of salt water and four liters of herbal tea.
“It’s definitely a roller coaster ride,” Toews said. “You feel like you're just depressed and desperate. Then the next thing you know, you're pushing a lot of toxins out of your cells and tissues. You can feel it. Then suddenly you feel this lightness, clarity and energy.
“I was remembering what it was like to be a 13-year-old kid again, where you have complete clarity and natural energy. It was nice to feel that and have some tangible evidence that you were moving in the right direction.”
He returned to India last fall for a five-week session, signed an incentive contract with a base salary of $2 million on July 1 and made his Jets debut on Oct. 9 in front of 15,225 at the Winnipeg Canadian Living Centre.
“It was amazing,” said Paul Edmonds, the Jets' radio play-by-play announcer. “There was a lot of anticipation. At 14, he left for school in Minnesota and never returned to play. Fans across the province wondered if that dream would ever come true.”
The dream was accompanied by a dose of reality. With centers Adam Lowry (hip surgery) and Nikolaj Ehlers (free agency) unavailable, the Jets made Toews their de facto No. 2 center. In the first 12 games without Lowry, he scored two goals and had five assists while averaging 16 minutes, 16 seconds of playing time.
“We were going to be thin in the middle, but Jonathan stabilized it,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arneil said. “He allowed us to get the secondary while getting back on track — getting back to NHL tempo, getting back to a new team, getting back to different teammates.”
His reputation made the transition easier. “He conducted himself impeccably in the locker room,” Arniel said. “He's part of our leadership group and he's at the center of everything. When he talks, guys listen because of everything he's faced in his career,” he said.
This influence is also felt on the ice. “It was fun playing with him,” said forward Alex Iafallo, who started the season on Toews' line. “He's fit in really well. He's done a great job of understanding our structure and how we play. For him to come in and play the way he plays is pretty impressive.”
Mark Scheifele, the franchise's all-time leading scorer, said Toews has improved his game.
“He has such a wealth of knowledge, such a wealth of experience,” Scheifele said. “He's so good on faceoffs, so good in the right zone, strong with the puck. I've learned the little details of the game that people don't notice.”
For Toews, the lessons of India have softened the edge that was once too sharp.
“I used to be a person who drove myself all the time,” he said. “It’s a more gentle process now—be patient, find the fun and creativity in working on the game, and just find the present moment.”
Arniel put it simply: “He's done a great job. He's like a little kid again.”
