Jonathan Toews's healing journey: From long COVID back to the NHL
CBC
Researchers working on treatments and cures for long COVID are closely watching newly signed Winnipeg Jets forward Jonathan Toews's healing journey — and his return to the NHL after two years away.
"I am thrilled that he is making a return and a comeback," said Dr. Kieran Quinn, an internal medicine and palliative care physician at Sinai Health in Toronto. He teaches and does research at the University of Toronto, looking for treatments to help long COVID patients feel better. Quinn is also a hockey fan who has followed Toews's career for years.
"It's really just great to see somebody in the prime of their life come back to the sport that they love. It's also, I think, really important for the hundreds of thousands or possibly even millions of Canadians who are living with long COVID to see that there is hope. People can come back and people can get better from this illness."
Toews has had about as close to a dream career in hockey as you can get.
The third overall draft pick in 2006, named Chicago's captain at just 20 years old, Winnipeg-born Toews led the team to three Stanley Cups, racking up a pair of Olympic gold medals and a trophy case full of individual awards along the way.
Toews has been named one of the 100 greatest NHL players. He's a sure-fire, first-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer.
But in December 2020, Toews announced he was sitting out indefinitely with an undisclosed illness. He later revealed it was chronic inflammatory response syndrome, connected to a COVID-19 infection early in 2020.
"My focus is to give myself the time and space to fully heal and enjoy life to the fullest once again. Along the way I have met several people who have struggled with health issues pertaining to long COVID, chronic immune response syndrome, and other similar cases that are quite complex," he posted on social media.
Toews missed the NHL's entire pandemic-shortened 2021 season, fighting symptoms of long COVID, including fatigue and inflammation.
He returned to the Hawks for another two seasons. But then in August 2023, stepped away from the game to get his health under control.
His treatments included a five-week Ayurveda detox program in India last fall.
"I think when you try enough different things and then they don't work, it's pretty frustrating," he told reporters at a news conference in Winnipeg on Friday. "And I just decided, I'm like, why not give this a shot? ... I was really happy that I did."
The man nicknamed "Captain Serious" for his intensity hasn't played professional hockey for two years, but he'll be on the ice this fall as a Winnipeg Jet after signing a one-year contract for the 2025-26 season.
"One of the most decorated hockey players in Manitoba history is coming home and that's an exciting thing," Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said Friday, before presenting Toews with a No. 19 Winnipeg Jets jersey.
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WARNING: This story contains references to missing and murdered Indigenous people. Resources can be found at the bottom of this story.
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