Jonathan Toews’ future just became a major offseason issue for the Jets
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Daniel Lucente
Apr 17, 2026 (12:58)
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Photo credit: © Rob Gray-Imagn Images
Jonathan Toews left Winnipeg hanging, and that answer could shape the Jets' summer, their leadership spine, and their plan down the middle.
Toews said he has not decided his future yet, and said Winnipeg is the only place he would return.
That matters because one clean answer would have settled a lot.
The Jets closed 2025-26 at 35-35-12, missed the playoffs, and finished with the kind of thud that changes summer plans.
Toews still gave them 11-18-29 in 82 games, plus a 61.8 faceoff rate that helped steady shifts when the ice tilted.
Jonathan Toews keeps the Winnipeg Jets waiting
Fans are right to read this as bigger than one contract.
If Toews stays, Winnipeg can keep Adam Lowry in harder matchup minutes and avoid asking Cole Perfetti or Brad Lambert to carry too much too fast.
If he walks, the hole is not just emotional.
It hits the penalty kill, the dots, and those ugly defensive-zone stretches where a bench needs one calm voice.
Mark Scheifele finished with 36-67-103, Kyle Connor posted 39-53-92, and that should have been enough top-six firepower to survive.
It was not, because Winnipeg never built enough insulation around its stars.
That is why Toews matters even at 37, not as a saviour, but as a pressure valve for a team that spent too much of this season chasing stability.
The next few weeks are not really about sentiment. They are about whether Kevin Cheveldayoff can still sell a serious plan to a hometown veteran who just watched this season crack open.
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