Well the new guy blogging at hockeybuzz .com badicalky has called out Toews as Slow and Weak and points out some alarming declines in his game like a huge decline I'm high danger shots even from a horrible ladt seadon..and a decline in Toews rate of drawing penalties ...and he also criticizes Toews d-zone e play ...sp Slow and Weak on both sides of the game (offensive and defensive impacts) ...
Myself ...I have commented on an apparent decline in his athleticism..he just gets tired and is prone to less hustle and more coasting. .not sure this is a want problem.but somehow a lack of energy problem..These effects seem to have increased since he went to his less red meat diet (if he eats any at all ..or maybe he has a vitamin deficiency...WHATEVER....he is not the same impact to the game or vebe to his line player that he was since the 2014/15 season ...again ..he cannot keep up a 60 minute game and looks to tire on too many shifts and this effects his hustle and battle ..to me there is a definite energy decline in his game ...so instead of a whole game or nearly a whole game of effective play as befits a 1C ..we get instead just a few shifts or maybe 1 period to a half a game a game of decent to good pkay (but never really any starry play) from him..He used to impact the direction of games with great 2 way pkay for most games and most of avgame
.now that bis very rare. He used to cause danger at the opposing net and draw penalties by opponents...that too us now rare ...He used to win most puck battles. ..lucky to win halfnofvthese now..Just not very effective anymore.
Saad was supposed to re-energize him and help him score more again..Instead it seems Toews visit dragging Saad down ...because after the hot start in the first couple of games...Saad has sagged badly in goal scoring and assists.
While we fans on these boards have called out Toews and his problems over the last 2 seasons and into this one to date ,few bloggers covering the team on prominent sites have really called out Toews ..so I applaud the courage of the new guy who took over from JJ at hockeybuzz.com com to.lay out the case in full detail rather than those still fawning over Toews having a positive CF% for the season ...he was correct in pointing out several of the problem areas in the Toews game besides even the lack of production issue. ..The point is, Toews must be measured by his own standards of his seasons prior to the declines that started manifesting in 2015/16 ,2016/17 and now to date in 2017/28 ...IT isvhowevervtruevthat Toews "found his A game" for approx. 6 weeks sometime in either Dec-Jan or Jan-Feb the last 2 seasons..Whether we even get this mid-season 'spiurt" of better alk round play + scoring+ impact on games again tjis season remains to be seen..but even if that happens again, we must ask why he can only summon the energy boost to spurt like that for weeks straight and go meh to poor before and after such a spurt for 9nly a short period during a season..It is a baffling mystery ..But if he even fails to spurt thus seadon. .we would then conclude he can no longer be the effective star we had paid for with the $10.5 deal. .Padding the stats with the odd en goal will not cut it.. We need a lot better play from him...Both in finishing and creating more danger on attack ..and in the hustle and work it takes to defend our zone competently ..
