hamzarocks
Registered User
Toews never produced like an elite player in the reg seasonThis is so all over the place. Just throwing mud at the wall to see what sticks.
One second Toews is a bum because the Hawks teams were so strong and deep. The next it's laughably suggesting goaltending is what they leaned on to win. Despite swapping out goaltenders and having it make little difference. Basically just flailing wildly at anything to try to discredit a key player in multiple Cups...in favour of a bunch of swapped around pieces that came and went. It's illogical.
You're also just casually dismissing the fact that Toews was pretty consistently the common factor between different groups of "5 man units" doing extremely well in outscoring their opponents. It absolutely does tell you something, when it happens fairly reliably over time, and one specific component is the main constant theme. Especially when that player is at the most important position, is observably stout at both ends of the ice, and also observably and statistically taking on the toughest matchups while doing it.
What's more likely? The Hawks just had a whole bunch of different pieces fall into place perfectly in different configurations for a bunch of different Cup wins and strong playoff performances? Or...Toews as one of the "Core 4" was actually in fact, a stud player and a linchpin of a mini-dynasty. A reality which is also pretty clearly hinted at in his performance with Team Canada on the world stage and again...and entirely different set of players, where he was still a standout amongst elite company.
He produced like an elite player in the playoffs in 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015
His impact on the ice in 2013 was as a product of a deep hawks team which played strong defensively, had good possessional players and had Crawford playing his best hockey of his career.
The hawks core 3 is entirely overrated from their time 2010-2015 period. People pretend they won those cups in the b/c of those 3 and not b/c of the previously mentioned absurd depth and incredible drafting.
Kane proved he didnt need elite depth to be a superstar, nd was a top player from 2016 to 2022.
Toews and Keith both slowly fell off. Toews fell off the hardest, with his spot as a franchise player always being the most questionable.
Toews routinely played with elite deoth talent and guys who took lower roles at times to fit in the team.
Center is valuable but just being an elite center doesnt mean your better than a better winger.
Offense is the most valuable and tangible metric in hockey.
Defense is systems based, goalie dependent, usage dependent, work vased and still will be broken and destroyed against an elite franchise forward (Mcdavid routinely does this in the playoffs and has won 3 rounds with him and Drai despite the Oilers being worse on paper than the Kings and Flames in 2022 at the minimum)
Toews produced best in short sprint sample sizes, and people wanted to believe that was his consistent levek of play irrespective of team quality.
He proved he was not that guy, as he fell off into obscurity along with the rest of the blackhawks team outside of Kane.
Toews routinely gets overrated and credit for being part of the post lockout Hawks.
