Confirmed with Link: Toews out indefinitely with illness

[ChiHawks10]

Lol.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

The team source hesitated because what he was about to say was blasphemous.
“I hate even having this thought,” the source said. “But I’ve been thinking it all year.”
He hemmed and hawed before finally prefacing his thoughts with what seems like the most obvious statement imaginable.
“Nobody’s dumb enough to say that (the Blackhawks) were better off without Jonathan Toews,” the source said. “Of course, you’d rather have Jonathan Toews around. Great player, great leader, everything people say he is.”
But…
“It’s probably helped not having him there questioning things, or having an issue with the system and all that stuff as the guys bought in,” the source said.

“I’m not saying they wouldn’t have been able to get everybody to buy in with him, but I think it might have taken a little longer,” the team source said. “Maybe you would have kept treading water with him, that tug-of-war back-and-forth where there are some guys that are half in, half out. It might have been another season where we don’t know what the hell we had and it looked like a terrible product. But with him not there, it probably bought Jeremy another season or two to see what he could do with an improved roster. And next year, in a perfect world, (Toews) comes in and sees what everybody’s been doing and buys in and is an even more useful player because of it. It sounds crazy, I know. But it could be for the best for everybody.”

 

[Brightwing]

I just read this, some pretty spicy quotes from a 'team source'.

I will say for context the article was more balanced in that it delved into just how much he was missed and the things he contributes.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

I just read this, some pretty spicy quotes from a 'team source'.

I will say for context the article was more balanced in that it delved into just how much he was missed and the things he contributes.

Ya, balanced and fluffy overall and nothing really unexpected in my opinion aside from the quotes I clipped. Do you think there are other parts that should be highlighted too?

 

[Brightwing]

Ya, balanced and fluffy overall and nothing really unexpected in my opinion aside from the quotes I clipped. Do you think there are other parts that should be highlighted too?

I think you got the most important part for discussion points. The rest was informative, but not unexpected.

 

[ChiHawk21]

bleh they are gunna end with the same record as the last 3 years and would not be shocked if we are in the same position next year. its just a theory an anonymous source came up with. i can argue it helps having someone question the decisions being made and hold the coaching staff accountable too. maybe this defensive system wont work and toews lets it be known.

 

[Blackhawks]

bleh they are gunna end with the same record as the last 3 years and would not be shocked if we are in the same position next year. its just a theory an anonymous source came up with. i can argue it helps having someone question the decisions being made and hold the coaching staff accountable too. maybe this defensive system wont work and toews lets it be known.

It’s the same crap this team is not getting better, it’s yearly lip service, with Toews the team would have been better not not good enough for playoffs, this team has no real top pairing D, no team can go anywhere without two top of the line 1 and 2...

 

[Drumman44]

Has a player not named Mario or Sidney missed this much time and come back and still be the same player?

 

[Brightwing]

Has a player not named Mario or Sidney missed this much time and come back and still be the same player?

I'm sure there are lots that have. Remember, he played in the bubble so really he only missed what would be half of a regular season. Getting shut down mid-season due to an injury happens all the time. Whether he comes back as the same player, that's impossible to speculate without knowing the injury/illness. If we knew he had X or Y surgery, we would have a sense of whether a return to form is likely/possible but that's not the case here. If you told me he had certain chronic conditions or lengthy concussion symptoms, I would say, oh he might be able to play a bit but he's retirement bound. If it's mental health or addictions issue, there is no reason he can't return to form physically.

 

[Pez68]

Yikes. More or less confirms what a lot of us thought. That the veteran guys were not buying in with JC.

 

[Hattrick Kane]

Yikes. More or less confirms what a lot of us thought. That the veteran guys were not buying in with JC.

Was that this year they weren’t buying in?

 

[Pez68]

Was that this year they weren’t buying in?

There was a discussion about this a while back. When the reports came out that the players went behind Bowman's back to complain about JC. It happened around the time Seabrook was being healthy scratched initially.

 

[Brightwing]

Was that this year they weren’t buying in?

No, last year. The one vet who did buy in is all along is Kane and Keith accepted his role as a mentor this year.

 

[Fortyfives]

Do people feel like the team has bought into JCs coaching now that the vets for most part are gone? Seabrook and Toews were gone all year.

I am not seeing a difference and the team still looks confused defending. Maybe difference is the wrong word but I don’t think they have improved

 

[RayP]

Do people feel like the team has bought into JCs coaching now that the vets for most part are gone? Seabrook and Toews were gone all year.

I am not seeing a difference and the team still looks confused defending. Maybe difference is the wrong word but I don’t think they have improved

I think they bought in more this year if you look at just effort, but that’s about it.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

 

[Blackhawks]

Do people feel like the team has bought into JCs coaching now that the vets for most part are gone? Seabrook and Toews were gone all year.

I am not seeing a difference and the team still looks confused defending. Maybe difference is the wrong word but I don’t think they have improved

Stan needs to go, I have been saying it since he traded Saad for Anisimov, that was the beginning of it all and I was right, he has done nothing but bad moves ever since then, team drafts well and he keeps destroying the rest with bad signing and bad trades. He’s a horrible GM.

 

[jaysoneil]

I just want to see #19 dominate the dot, shutdown opposing top lines and convert some SO attempts with that filthy five-hole, even if it's for just one more season.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Well, people seem to be thinking he'll be back but 4 months or so comes real quick, I don't believe there's even been a rumor of him skating anywhere.

 

[Enyaw]

3 years of running in place .... playing .500 hockey gets you .... another year of .500 hockey

This is what happens when you are stuck in the middle .... to get better you must bottom out

 

[hawksrule]

Well, people seem to be thinking he'll be back but 4 months or so comes real quick, I don't believe there's even been a rumor of him skating anywhere.

Yeah, I’ve been getting a bad feeling about this. I think it’s far from certain he’s back for the beginning of 2021-22.

 

[ChiHawk21]

Yikes. More or less confirms what a lot of us thought. That the veteran guys were not buying in with JC.

the more seasons of terrible defensive structure with and without the veteran guys shows the players may have been in the right.

 

[RememberTheRoar]

Yeah, I’ve been getting a bad feeling about this. I think it’s far from certain he’s back for the beginning of 2021-22.

Zawaski mentioned that another Chicago reporter (forget who he said) wrote up a Toews article after Lazerus and that it very much had a past tense/farewell type of tone. He said he personally still doesn't know anything, but said the article seemed to not paint the rosy picture we're all hoping for.

 

[Pez68]

the more seasons of terrible defensive structure with and without the veteran guys shows the players may have been in the right.

lol

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

Zawaski mentioned that another Chicago reporter (forget who he said) wrote up a Toews article after Lazerus and that it very much had a past tense/farewell type of tone. He said he personally still doesn't know anything, but said the article seemed to not paint the rosy picture we're all hoping for.

It was Barry Rozner, but yeah I read that article and it was kind of sobering.
I'm expecting Toews's status to be completely up in the are until mid-August at the earliest.