Toews wants better communication, 'honesty' during Blackhawks rebuild

Jonathan Toews said he wants to have more communication with Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson and the coaching staff while the team goes through its rebuild.

"I just think sometimes it helps me to hear their honesty," the Blackhawks captain said Thursday. "I think it helps to have that line of communication to know what they expect out of me and I know what they need, and I know what my job is as a player, as a captain in the locker room. I think part of the frustrating thing the past couple of games is we're moving the lines around, this and that. I mean, that's just an example.
"So yeah, it'd be good to know exactly what's going on in some detail, to a certain extent, then I can control what I can control and just go about my job."
The Blackhawks (25-38-11) have been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention for the second consecutive season. They have won one postseason series (2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the Edmonton Oilers) since winning the Stanley Cup in 2015, their third NHL championship in a six-season span that began in 2009-10, when Toews and forward Patrick Kane each was in his third NHL season.
This has been a season of turmoil for the Blackhawks. Davidson took over as GM on Oct. 26 after Stan Bowman stepped down as president of hockey operations and GM following an independent investigation of a former player's allegations of sexual assault by then-assistant coach Brad Aldrich in 2010. Chicago fired Jeremy Colliton as coach and replaced him with Derek King on Nov. 6 after starting 1-9-2.
Toews, who turns 34 on April 29, said March 23 it was disheartening that the Blackhawks traded forward Brandon Hagel and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on March 21.
"It's not easy for him, 'Kaner,'" King said. "I feel that this is where they're at in their career and it's a rebuild for the, I don't know how many times now they've rebuilt. It's not fun, especially when guys have that level of they're used to winning, they're used to winning Cups, they're used to having strong teams and everybody pushes everybody. Now it's a little different because they're the voices. There's nobody else around them helping with the voice, so I can see the frustration setting in at times.
"I try to communicate with them every day, to have chats with them, I always ask if everything's OK. Seems everything's usually OK. Today, [Toews] was a little grumpy, but that's good. That's good, coming into the game, a little grumpy captain's always a good thing. But the communication, you can always work on your communication."
The Blackhawks ended an eight-game skid (0-6-2) with a 5-4 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks at United Center on Thursday.
Toews and Kane each is entering the final season of an eight-year contract he signed July 9, 2014. The No. 3 pick by the Blackhawks in the 2006 NHL Draft, Toews missed last season because of chronic immune response syndrome and 11 games this season with a concussion. The forward has 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in 63 games.
Kane, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, said that he would like to finish his career with the Blackhawks. He leads Chicago this season with 86 points (24 goals, 62 assists).
"I think there's always business decisions," Kane said March 2. "In the game of hockey, there's not many guys that play their whole career with one team, so it would be a privilege and an honor to do that. But I guess we'll see how it all plays out."
Fleury was traded to the Minnesota Wild on March 21 for a conditional first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He was 19-21-5 with a 2.95 goals-against average, .908 save percentage and four shutouts in 45 games this season for the Blackhawks.
Hagel and a fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft and the 2024 NHL Draft were traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 18 for forwards Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk, and a first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and the 2024 draft, each top-10 protected. Hagel, 23, had 37 points (21 goals, 16 assists) in 55 games before the trade.
"There have been a lot of challenges that these guys have grown through as a group and when you kind of cultivate that chemistry and that friendship and that connection with your teammates, I think you want to keep building off it," Toews said March 23. "So it's definitely a little disheartening to see some key parts to our lineup and our group get traded away."
Asked if he's wrapped his head around the rebuild, Toews said he didn't want to think about that.
"I feel like I just need to take it one day at a time, given that," he said Thursday. "Obviously there's some learning for me to just be in the moment and not be so results-oriented all the time. I mean, I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen this summer, I don't know what moving parts, I don't know what's going to happen. We'll just take it day by day and not overthink it and take one challenge at a time as they come."