The Winnipeg Jets and free agent forward Jonathan Toews have come to terms on a 1 year, $2M contract, with another $5M in bonuses available.
Toews, who hails from St. Vital near Winnipeg, cannot officially have his contract confirmed until the new league year begins on July 1st. However, that didn’t stop the team from confirming their homegrown signing on social media on Friday.
Toews’ deal is incentive heavy given his uncertain health situation entering the 2025-26 NHL season. The 37 year old announced that he was stepping away from the game following the completion of his contract with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23. Toews was forced to take time off due to lingering symptoms of long COVID, and chronic immune response syndrome.
According to reporter Chris Johnston, the 3 time Stanley Cup champion will see his bonuses hit if he reaches the following milestones:
-$550k each for 20/30/40/50/60 games played
-$500k if Jets make playoffs and Toews plays 50 games
-$250k each for Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 wins (with Toews playing 50% of games)
-$1M for Stanley Cup win (with Toews playing 50% of games)
Originally drafted 3rd overall by Chicago back in 2006, Toews has amassed 883 points (372G, 511A) across 1,067 regular season games played. Not satisfied with how his career ended with the Blackhawks, the 6’2″ forward had been taking part in conditioning skates in Arizona over the last several months.
Toews’ even went so far as to visit India for 5 weeks as part of a detox and attempt to reset his immune system. The veteran centreman posted on social media “It’s too long of a story to share all the details here, but it’s been almost (five) years of searching for a way to heal the inflammatory and immune system issues that took me out of hockey…The wisdom of Ayurveda has taught me that everything I experience, I am responsible for. Not only did it teach me better diet choices specific to my body type, it has deepened my intuitive relationship with myself and the world around me.”
On May 29th, Toews reached out to his agent Pat Brisson to inform him that he was 100% committed to returning to the NHL for the 2025-26 season, and that he should inform teams of his comeback attempt. Following this news, Toews had been linked to several organizations besides the Jets, including the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota Wild, and Colorado Avalanche.
The deal is the first major offseason move for the Jets who lost to the Dallas Stars in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this year. Toews’ contract will leave roughly $24.5M in cap space for Winnipeg this summer as his bonus amounts can be moved to the team’s 2026-27 cap if they don’t fit under the limit this season.
Nikolaj Ehlers, Brandon Tanev, Mason Appleton and Haydn Fleury are all pending unrestricted free agents. While Gabriel Vilardi, Morgan Barron and Dylan Samberg will also be in need of new deals as RFA’s heading into the offseason.
Photo: David Kindler. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.