Jonathan Toews Raises The Bar – Again
Before Game Six, we talked about the exclusive company Duncan Keith would join once he won the Conn Smythe. The Hawks defenseman has built a resume that assures him of entrance to the Hall of Fame.
With his third championship as captain of the Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews is also further cementing his place among the game’s all time greats.
As TSN pointed out last night, Toews is younger than a number of all-time greats when they won their third Cup.
Just over 27 yrs old, Jonathan Toews has 3 Cups at a younger age than several Hall of Fame leaders were for their 3rd pic.twitter.com/ItKOYC3JjZ
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) June 16, 2015
In adding his third ring, Toews becomes the youngest player to captain a team to three Stanley Cups since Wayne Gretzky with the Edmonton Oilers (1984, 85, 87, 88). Indeed, The Great One is the only captain to lead a team to three younger than Toews.
With 102 career postseason points, Toews is now 12th among active players (note: unlike official NHL statistics, we do not consider Chris Pronger active; he’s on the Hall of Fame ballot). The only player among the leaders ahead of Toews who’s younger than the Hawks’ captain: Patrick Kane (of course).
Looking back at Blackhawks history, Toews continues to re-write record books as well.
There have only been 17 individual postseasons in franchise history in which a player reached 20 points. Toews (twice) and Kane (three times) join Hall of Famers Stan Mikita and Denis Savard and should-be Hall of Famer Steve Larmer as the only players in the organization’s history to have multiple 20-point postseasons.
Three Stanley Cups, two Olympic gold medals, one Conn Smythe and one Selke Trophy and he’s still in the prime of his career.
He’s a bum. Trade him for Phil Kessel.
But seriously, read the comments below the graphic. No Gretzky?? No Kane?
Some quotes from scanning Twitter this morning …
McDonough: “We’re not done”
Stan Bowman, asked if Corey Crawford is an untouchable this summer: “Oh yeah. You can’t win without goaltending. He’s a winner.”
Oduya tore a ligament in his elbow Game 3, said it affected his triceps but didn’t really bother him.
Versteeg hurt his right knee again, said it’ll need to be cleaned up via a procedure of some sort this summer.
Kruger admits to being hurt but doesn’t say what it was, basically said at this time of year you just rise up and meet the challenge.
As an aside, Sharp’s comments and mostly his demeanor last night gave me the impression he knows it’s over for him in Chicago. Very wistful and reflective. Hard to believe he’ll be back. I was surprised to see he had 15 points in the playoffs though.
Stephen Johns with a classy tweet remarking how proud he is to be part of such a top notch organization.
Kruger is prone to concusssssion . . . takes hard hits 3 or 4 times a game every game! , Kruger is asked and demanded to do “Too much” but I wish him well one of my favorite players. Hawks are demanding too much physical play from him and he is just a competitor.
Towes does too much well (everything well) to say anything “questionable” about him. My only wish would be for him to finish a check once in awhile, he is a gentlemen for sure and never takes a cheap shot. But for his size (big boy) and skill when he goes to the net and has net front presence he is amazing. On this team he could be a little more physical in the corners not brutal but physical at the right moment during the game.
Shaw was also hurt and was close to not playing according to Q. He didn’t say why.
Well that was fun.
I swear I remember somebody wanting to trade 19 straight up for Parise a couple weeks ago, that was funny. 19 played his way into the Hall of Fame this season. Greatest captain of all time when all is said and done, Yzerman knows it too. He does NOTHING the easy way, gives the media nothing controversial, scores a ton of goals for not being a “goal scorer,” and the magnitude, timing, and nastiness of the goals he scores are even more impressive than his gaudy playoff point totals. AND THAT’S NOT EVEN HIS STRENGTH!!!!
The silly thing is he will never get recognition for a Hart trophy, which should just be called the “Vote Amongst The 3 Guys With The Most Points Trophy.” Those awards are so silly, Keith was a worthy recipient of the Conn Smythe but Toews should have won all 3 in my opinion. He set the tone for a game 7 rout in Anaheim with not one but 2 goals to open the game, after his insane 2 goal performance in game 5 of that series. Losing that game 5 in OT would have rattled many players, whereas Toews used it as motivation, didn’t think he or the team worked hard enough. Granted he says that after wins too. He was the first of the Hawks superstars to score in the Finals as well, on as nasty a goal as you’ll ever see. AND THAT’S NOT EVEN HIS STRENGTH. Winning at the dot and stifling defense wins Stanley Cups, the only trophy this guy really cares about anyway.
Great post, Tab, Great blog, thanks for doing this, and thanks to the community for a fun, interesting year, this never gets old, does it.
I noticed when Toews was holding the cup with Bettman for photos, he was shaking the cup. I remembered seeing the time when Messier was there in 1994 and he did the same thing. I can’t remember if others have done it because of some tradition or is this just a coincidence?
This is a fantastic post, I thought it deserved a little more visibility:
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I can’t say enough about the “class” of this organization. For anyone who owns a business or manages people, you can appreciate that it always starts at the top. In the case of the Hawks, Rocky has set the bar high, and he has put great people behind him to really exemplify what it means to be a Blackhawk. Everyone from top to bottom does the right thing for the right reasons every day, and that’s a difficult culture to build.
I can’t help but think that bringing on Kimmo is the perfect example of what this organization does best. There may have been other options at the deadline, or the Hawks could have looked internally. Instead they brought in a 40-year-old veteran who has struggled through his share of adversity throughout his career. When Toews was interviewed after the game, he kept repeating that they really did it for the guys who hadn’t won before. I have to believe that Kimmo’s presence contributed to the motivation of this team to win again. Toews handing the cup over to Kimmo and then telling him to take another lap further verifies that this is the case. There’s a lot of brains working in the front office, and sometimes there’s a lot more depth to their decisions than what shows up on the score sheet.
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After Toews handed Timonen the Cup, he held it up high briefly, did a brief spin and then looked to hand it off to someone. You can notice all the players in the background laying back, as if they didn’t want to rush Timonen’s moment. And then Toews said “C’mon Kimmo, let’s go for a skate”.
That’s one reason why the traditions of hockey are so great …
Bowman’s battle with Hodkin’s disease was talked about last night in an interview with his father. Perhaps Kimmo’s battle in the hospital less than a year ago and his dream struck a chord with Bowman. Also, Stan’s illness is what brought his fater over to the Hawks to be with him. He didn’t want to leave Detroit but I think the organIzation told him it’s the right thing to do. I know some people think Stan is GM because of Scotty but it’s rubbish.
Excellent post, Hof. Thanks for sharing. I was one who criticized the Kimmo deal on a couple of occasions, but never really thought of it from this POV. A friend actually said to me right after one of my bitch and moan fests, “Kimmo’s influence in the locker room has got to be one of the factors in getting him.” I think it’s true. I stand corrected, and happily so. Seeing Kimmo raise the cup was priceless!
You rock, Hofmeister!
I’m going to say you don’t trade for guys based on sentiment unless you are Kenny Williams going after Griffey Jr after his ship had sailed.
Bowman reached and luckily they were able to ride the crap out of their horses and got excellent play out of all four forward lines.
You hit the nail on the head A.J.
A.J.
June 17, 2015 at 6:38 am
I’m going to say you don’t trade for guys based on sentiment unless you are Kenny Williams going after Griffey Jr after his ship had sailed.
Bowman reached and luckily they were able to ride the crap out of their horses and got excellent play out of all four forward lines.
Quoted for truth. There were no fairy tales involved in winning this cup. Just unbelievable performances from the best top 4 in the league.
Alberta – Right on!!!
I have been a hater of that 44 deal… But – I have admit- watching/hearing him get the cup… My 1st thought was… What a Classy Hawks/SB thing to do – pull this guy from “retirement” and give him shot…
Did he help Hawks win ( physically- I doubt it… mentally/motivation… maybe). but CLASSY!!!
In hindsight- Like Hof – said… classy
In hindsight- If Q is going to ride 4 guys… and they play like they did- UNREAL,
luck- none of those 4 gets hurt
I didn’t like losing 1st round Pick for 80 – heading into a deep draft class- (yes, I realize SB might get another 1st pick back w/ Cap trade coming)… but it would be even better to have two 1st round picks in this Draft…
In Hindsight- didn’t know SB had ACE up his sleeve with Panarin…
PANARIN- is going to be a very good Player
SB- basically signed a top 5 player (who is ready now- if he was in the draft this year)… I would be crying foul… if I were a fan of another team… It’s really not fair
The irony of the deal to get 44 was not lost on me at game 6. Kimmo had imo his best game of the entire playoffs(not that he set the bar very high…) and actually made some really nice plays. I am sure this made 44 proud to have made a positive contribution on the ice for the Hawks in their quest for the Cup. No I didn’t like the acquisition based on what I saw of Kimmo’s skating ability, but SB made the move. Not everything works out perfectly, but the intangibles Timonen brought to the team and guys like Teuvo were solid.
Johnny Toews is a born winner with class to boot. What a guy!
Lets Go Hawks!!
Phil I agree. I thought Timonen’s best game was Game 6 although as you correctly state, the bar wasn’t set very high.
But yeah, I thought he was a positive contributor in Game 6 and the close out games are really, really important duh understatement.
Tag teaming onto Wall’s Panarin comments, I bet the Blackhawks bring in a veteran Russian guy they like to help ease the transition. Seems like they see the value in this sort of thing.
The Panarin deal sounds like the Hawks can’t lose with this guy. Clearly he has some serious talent based on what we have seen recently so It will be very interesting to see if he can make what will a tough roster to crack. Hawks seem to have been really averse to bringing in Russians so this kid appears to the exception to the rule. Can’t argue with the proposed contract.
Lets Go Hawks!!
Hopefully the Russian guy they bring in to help Panarin transition won’t be a 40 year old who can’t skate. With a 23 man game day roster and cap issues I don’t think we have room for translators on the team.
Hopefully certain posters can begin to see the issue clearly and not make smarmy ill informed comments about bringing in 40 year old Russian translators.
If there’s a need and a good fit, they’ll do it. I’m sure the ice time of whoever it might be will be critiqued by the “experts” anyway who insist they know better than a coach who just helped lead the team to yet another Stanley Cup. Oops. How did that work out …
….maybe they’ll sign Tarasenko to an offer sheet? What’s Khabibulin doin’?
HOFMEISTER
June 17, 2015 at 1:02 pm
Tag teaming onto Wall’s Panarin comments, I bet the Blackhawks bring in a veteran Russian guy they like to help ease the transition. Seems like they see the value in this sort of thing.
Is Panarin the player rumored to have been buds with Viktor Tikhonov? Thought I read a story about the two of them looking to come over together to the same NHL team. Kid grew up in the States so maybe that’s a connection.
In the film Red Army (Slava Fetisov) Tikhonov is portrayed as a prick.
I think Kimmo was actually brought into play and contribute on and off the ice, rotating with the other old guy. But he didn’t have the legs to play real minutes. 32 wasn’t supposed to get hurt, Rundblad was supposed to develop at the NHL level, and at worst case, Johns and Van Reimsdyk were not supposed to get hurt again, and at the very worst case, Cumiskey was sitting there with a little playoff experience. We saw the very worst case unfold, and fortunately the bottom 2 were able to hold it together just enough.
The Kimmo signing was a miss, the other two signings were hits as it turns out, and in the very end, Kimmo did contribute positively. I’m not saying that turd of a move was polished, but at worst it was buffed up to an eggshell luster, they did win the Cup after all.
Q shuffled in and out a lot of bottom 2 this year, he’s really tough on defensemen (duh) but in hindsight, had Rozy and TVR stayed healthy all year, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Sure 32 would still be being brutalized by fans’ opinions, but the team would have been better. I still contend, as I did before he was hurt, that his offensive point play was underrated,) very dependable and important for a possession team. He was just fine as the Hawks 5th D man, tough to play up to the level of the top 4. I would say that Q’s unending love for TVR might portend good news for the future if the kid can stay healthy, and he happens to be the opposite shot as Hjalmarsson if Oduya ends up leaving town.