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Jonathan Toews: the Canadiens were in on it
Félix Forget
Jonathan Toews: the Canadiens were in on it
Credit: Getty Images
Yesterday morning, we learned that Jonathan Toews had reached an agreement with the Winnipeg Jets to return to the NHL next year. He can’t officially sign a contract until July 1, but everything is already set.

He will earn a minimum of $2 million, but could earn up to $7 million if he gets his full bonus.

For Toews, signing in Winnipeg makes sense. He’s a local guy, after all, and he’s joining a team that’s competitive year after year. That said, there are other teams who had him in their sights.

And on that subject, Pierre LeBrun wrote a piece for The Athletic in which he notes that no fewer than 15 teams have chatted to Pat Brisson about Toews.

Among them, of course, were the Jets, but also the Avalanche, the Maple Leafs and… the Canadiens.

LeBrun notes that the Canadiens were seriously interested in the experience Toews would bring to their young squad. He has won the Stanley Cup three times, after all, and would have been an excellent mentor for the young players in town.

The fact that he’s left-handed and able to win face-offs and handle defensive assignments were probably other factors that interested the Habs, but Toews’ track record was obviously at the heart of it all.

That said, the fact that the Habs are not yet fully mature (and therefore not necessarily very competitive next year) may have worked against the club in this case. At 37, Toews doesn’t have a ton of years left in his body: joining a team that isn’t even guaranteed to make the playoffs next year must have cooled him down a bit.

Maybe the Canadiens could have tried to convince him by promising to trade him at the deadline if the club wasn’t in the mix… but maybe he just wanted to be tied down somewhere for the whole year.

One also wonders if the Habs didn’t make as tempting an offer as the Jets. We know that in Montreal, the team is already counting on several excellent young players on their entry-level contracts (Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, among others) who can earn a lot of money in bonuses.

If the Habs have to put this off until next year, adding such bonuses to Toews could seriously cripple the 2026-27 payroll.

Still, it’s interesting to see that Montreal was in this race. The French fact could have worked in the Habs’ favor, but in the end, it’s Winnipeg that Toews will return to the NHL.

And you have to wonder if the Habs’ interest in a player like Toews means that Christian Dvorak, who has a similar profile (minus the experience), is likely to return next year.


Overtime

– Of note.

– A classic.

– Well done.

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