Jonathan Toews says he plans to return to the Chicago Blackhawks after suffering from chronic immune response syndrome: ‘My body just fell apart’

Jonathan Toews, who missed the entire 2020-21 season for the Chicago Blackhawks, revealed he has chronic immune response syndrome in a video tweeted Wednesday morning.

“I just think there were a lot of things that just kind of piled up where my body just fell apart,” Toews says. “So what they’re calling it was chronic immune response syndrome where I just couldn’t quite recover and my immune system was reacting to everything that I did, anything kind of stress. Anything that I would do throughout the day.”

In the two-minute video, Toews walks through the doors of Fifth Third Arena, the Hawks’ practice facility. The star center and captain said before last season that a then-unspecified illness left him feeling “lethargic.” He was later placed on long-term injured reserve and missed the entire season.

“It feels great. It’s been a long time,” Toews says in the video. “Honestly, I haven’t taken this much time off in probably ever, since I was a kid at least. It’s nice to be back in Chicago, see the guys again. Slowly but surely just settle in again into the life and the routine again. So it’s a good feeling.”

As he talks over footage of him skating and chatting with a few players and coaches, he spoke about the effect of not knowing when he’d return had on him.

“That was the frustrating part, was not knowing when or how we were going to get over the hump,” he said. “But thankfully got a great support team of people that helped me through it. I learned a lot about the stress that I put on my body over the years, and I appreciate all the support.

“A lot of people were worried and (I) definitely felt bad to a certain degree that people were that worried and thought it was serious. But I definitely knew in the back of my mind that I’d get through it, it was just a matter of time.”

In the video, Toews acknowledged he “wasn’t too vocal about the things I went through this year.” He thanked fans, teammates and Hawks management for their support.

“That’s the biggest thing, you realize there is more to life than hockey, but I’m excited to get back to the United Center and play. Just go out there and have fun, and I think my best is going to come through.”

Toews, 33, last played for the Hawks on Aug. 18, 2020, a 4-3 elimination loss to the Vegas Golden Knights during the return-to-play postseason in the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble after the regular season was shortened to 70 games by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He played nine games during the Hawks’ playoff run and led the team with five goals. He tied Patrick Kane for the team lead in points with nine.

The probable return of the 13-year veteran provides a big boost down the middle of the ice, where the Hawks had to make do for much of the season without Toews and Kirby Dach, who broke his right wrist in December.

Dach returned and played 18 games, and the Hawks discovered promising options at center in Pius Suter and Philipp Kurashev. Usual fourth-line center David Kampf filled in admirably throughout the lineup and even put in shifts on the top line for a time.

Faceoffs, however, suffered during Toews’ absence, and that contributed to offensive and defensive problems.

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Among players who took at least 50 faceoffs in 2019-20, Toews led the team with a 57.3% percentage. He has won 56.9% over his career. The Hawks ranked 29th (46.3%) this past season after ranking 17th (49.9%) in ’19-20.

Toews had slipped a bit last season as a scorer (a career-low 18 goals over 70 games) but he was still a playmaker, contributing 42 assists, second only to Patrick Kane. And the previous season Toews notched a career-high 35 goals.

The loss of Toews as a locker-room leader was something players addressed on several occasions in 2021, so it will be interesting to see what effect he has on a youthful group that received a lot of experience in his absence.

“He’s an extremely important player for us, for our team,” coach Jeremy Colliton said after the Hawks’ season ended in May. “He’s meant a lot for the organization and the success we’ve been able to have.

“Of course, we hope he’s going to be back. He’s a great player and he’d really help us, but (we’ve) got to give him time to sort things out and we’ll go from there.”

Toews, a six-time All-Star center, Conn Smythe Trophy winner and Olympic gold medalist, captained the Hawks to Stanley Cup championships in 2010, 2013 and 2015.