Jonathan Toews isn’t with the Blackhawks right now.
That’s the only concrete part of Toews’ mysterious, worrying medical absence.
Despite swarms of unfounded rumors about Toews’ possible conditions on social media, the Hawks insist they aren’t hiding any additional information about their 32-year-old captain’s health.
Hawks general manager Stan Bowman made that clear in an interview Sunday.
“I don’t have any update on Jonathan,” Bowman said. “And when I say this, I mean it: It’s not like we have additional information that we’re holding back. All we know is he’s not ready to play right now.”
Toews and the Hawks announced Dec. 29 that Toews was experiencing symptoms leaving him “feeling drained and lethargic.” Bowman had since clarified those symptoms had been present for months, potentially as far back as the August 2020 playoffs.
Toews hasn’t made a public appearance since — not even during the Hawks’ player introductions before their Jan. 22 home opener, for which Brent Seabrook, Kirby Dach, Alex Nylander and other injured players were present.
“When he’s feeling better and ready to join the team, he’ll be back,” Bowman added. “I have no doubt, knowing Jonathan as long as I have, that when’s ready to be back, he’ll be back.
“Until that happens, we’re just giving him the time and the space needed. We’re not really trying to hound him. He knows that we’re ready to embrace him when he’s feeling up to it, and until that happens, we’re going to let him work through things on his own timeline.”
Bowman also provided details about several other players’ situations:
Kirby Dach is still wearing a cast as he recovers from his Dec. 28 wrist surgery, but he’s progressing on schedule.
“Whenever the time is right with the doctors, his cast will come off, and then he’ll have to work on a range of motion and strengthening it,” Bowman said. “He’ll be able to start stickhandling down the road here.”
When Dach skates on his own, he “looks like he could play today,” but that’s to be expected considering his legs are fine. He’s only about 1.5 months into his estimated four- to five-month timeline. The 20-year-old forward has been around the Hawks’ locker room often, however.
“It’s great that he’s so plugged in and wants to be around [everyone],” Bowman said. “It’s just good to see him.”
Bowman exchanged some texts with Corey Crawford when he unexpectedly retired on Jan. 9, wishing the longtime Hawks goaltender well, but the organization hasn’t talked yet with Crawford about bringing him back for any retirement honors.
“Not saying it won’t happen, but that’s not really our focus right now,” Bowman said.
The Hawks terminated Nick Seeler’s contract Jan. 17, shortly after trying to assign the depth defenseman to the AHL. Bowman confirmed Sunday the decision was made because Seeler declined to report to Rockford.
“He cleared waivers, we sent him down, and then for whatever reason, he decided that wasn’t going to work for him,” Bowman said. “That’s all we know.”
Seeler’s departure was part of why the Hawks signed Madison Bowey, another depth defenseman of similar age and experience level, 11 days later. (Expansion draft requirements were another big factor.)
Kevin Lankinen’s immense success in the first month of his NHL career has been impressive. Bowman called Lankinen “the biggest reason our team has gotten their game together.”
But the Hawks haven’t made any decisions about who their long-term No. 1 goaltender will be. Lankinen, Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia all have another year left on their contracts after this season.
“Maybe outsiders look at it that way, but we don’t really look at anointing people,” Bowman said. “We just want [Lankinen] to keep having good efforts and keep getting experience at the NHL level and keep playing well. If he does that, then we’ll figure that other stuff out later.”
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