CHICAGO –
Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews announced Sunday that he is dealing with symptoms of the long-running COVID-19 and chronic immune reaction syndrome.
Toews has not played since Jan. 28. The Blackhawks placed the 34-year-old center on injured reserve Wednesday with an illness said to be unrelated to COVID-19.
“It was really challenging to act out those symptoms,” Toews said in a statement released by the team. “It got to the point in the past few weeks where I had no choice but to step down and focus on getting well. I’m grateful for the patience and support of my teammates, the coaching staff and the entire Blackhawks organization.”
Toews missed the 2020-21 season with what he described as chronic immune reaction syndrome.
Toews has spent his entire career with Chicago and has won three Stanley Cup titles. But he’s eligible for free agency after this season.
“We will work with him and support him with whatever he needs to make sure he is feeling good and strong and in a place to get back on the ice,” said general manager Kyle Davidson. “We’re taking day by day but the hope is he can play a few more games here later.”
When asked about a move from Toews by the March 3 close, Davidson said he wasn’t considering it.
“We’re trying to help him get back to his full strength and that’s completely secondary,” he said.
Toews had 12 goals and 25 assists in 71 games when he returned to action last year and he had looked stronger this season. He has 14 goals and 14 assists in 46 games for the bottom-ranked Blackhawks.
“We feel for him and support him right now,” said coach Luke Richardson. “He was back this week, the first steps to coming back and training and skating again and unfortunately he wasn’t getting the results he wanted.”
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