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Jonathan Toews is coming home.
The former Chicago Blackhawks captain and three-time Stanley Cup champion has agreed to sign with the Winnipeg Jets but can’t put ink to paper until July 1.
“We are excited to add a proven winner like Jonathan Toews to the Winnipeg Jets,” general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said in a news release posted on the Jets website.
“It will be a unique opportunity for Jonathan to play for his hometown team. His talent, drive and experience will be a great complement to our club. We will withhold further comment until July 1.”
Free agents aren’t allowed to put ink to paper until July 1, so the official signing has to wait just over a week.
The Jets posted several messages on X on Friday morning, including one that said, “Can’t believe this is a real post from @nhljets tbh.”
Toews, who was born in Winnipeg and played youth hockey in the city, has a sportsplex named in his honour in the St. Vital neighbourhood where he grew up.
On Friday, a message on the electronic sign for the facility said “He’s home.”
In a statement included in the Jets release on Friday, Toews said he is grateful to be making his return to the NHL with the club.
“It’s very special to come home and play in front of my family and friends in Manitoba. The Jets have been on the rise over the last few seasons, and I’m eager to join the group and help however I can.”
Toews, 37, was drafted third overall by the Blackhawks in 2006 and spent his entire career there, winning three Stanley Cups (2010, 2013 and 2015), before stepping away from the game in February 2023, saying he was suffering from symptoms of long COVID and chronic inflammatory response syndrome.
“It has reached the point where I had no choice but to step back and concentrate on getting healthy,” he said at the time.
He returned to the Blackhawks’ lineup on April 1, and about two weeks later, the team announced it would not re-sign Toews after his contract expired at the end of the season.
In August 2023, Toews said he intended to sit out the 2023-24 season to focus on his health, but that he was not retiring from the NHL.
In March 2025, he announced in an interview with The Athletic that he intended to return for the 2025-26 season, prompting speculation among hockey writers and fans about where he might land. Winnipeg was always considered a front-runner.
Toews is a two-time Olympic gold medallist for Canada in hockey (2010 and 2014), won the 2010 Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the 2013 Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward, and the 2015 Mark Messier Leadership Award.
He’s been a Selke finalist three other times and been in four NHL all-star games.
Towes also won the gold medal at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, back-to-back gold medals at the 2006 and 2007 World Junior Championships and gold and silver medals at the 2007 and 2008 World Championships, respectively.