In a turn of events that surprised absolutely no one, Canada took gold in men’s hockey for the second consecutive Olympic Games, thus demonstrating their dominance in their own national pastime. Whatever. Rather anti-climactic if you ask me. But in the middle of all of this passive-aggressive nationalism jingoism, Jonathan Toews emerged once more just to show us all how great he actually is.
At 25, Jonathan Toews is a Hall of Famer. Donning an ‘A’ for Canada, and his standard no. 19 with the nine flipped upside down, Toews opened the scoring with what would be the game-winning goal for the Canadians against Sweden on Saturday. His goal propelled Canada to gold and Toews to his second major title in less than one calendar year (along with Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp, of course).
Of course, this wasn’t Toews’ first rod-eh-o (get it? He’s Canadian). All he does is win. At just 25 years of age, Toews already has won two Stanley Cups and a pair of gold medals. He’s already achieved more in the last seven year than David Backes could hope to achieve in an elbow-throwing career.
Jonathan Toews isn’t a premier scorer. He’s not Sidney Crosby. However, his numbers throughout his career are mighty impressive to date. Just for fun, let’s take a look.
| GP | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | PIM | FO% | PPG | PPA | SHG | SHA | |
| 2007-08 | 64 | 24 | 30 | 54 | 11 | 44 | 53.2 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 2 |
| 2008-09 | 82 | 34 | 35 | 69 | 12 | 51 | 54.7 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009-10 | 76 | 25 | 43 | 68 | 22 | 47 | 57.3 | 9 | 13 | 1 | 3 |
| 2010-11 | 80 | 32 | 44 | 76 | 25 | 26 | 56.7 | 10 | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| 2011-12 | 59 | 29 | 28 | 57 | 17 | 28 | 59.4 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 2 |
| 2012-13 | 47 | 23 | 25 | 48 | 28 | 27 | 59.9 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2013-14 | 60 | 19 | 36 | 55 | 21 | 28 | 55.9 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
By the time his career is over, the numbers will be there for Jonathan Toews. While his game isn’t exactly predicated around putting pucks in the net or putting up 90-100 points a season, he’s put up strong offensive numbers nonetheless.
Toews may just be the single most important player to his team of anyone in the league. He’s a top flight center who contributes in all phases of the game for the Blackhawks. He’s their top line center at full strength and on the power play, as well as being a key murderer of penalties. In addition, he’s a wizard on the faceoff circle, as evident by his near 57 percent career success rate at the dot. He’s the type of guy who leaves it all on the ice every night (unlike that half-assing Patrick Kane fella). He’s the defending Selke Trophy winner and a former Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Basically, he just wins things.
That may be putting it lightly. Jonathan Toews has experienced more success in the sport of hockey than almost any individual in any field ever. He’s the youngest member of the Triple Gold Club, which requires one to win an IIHF World Championships gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, and a Stanley Cup. He’s done two of them twice. He won a pair of World Junior championships as well. He was named captain at 20, the third youngest in the history of the National Hockey League and continues to exemplify what that ‘C’ means each time out.
In a city starved for success, Jonathan Toews has become a favorite son. A wildly successful, yet incredibly humble, 25-year-old is a rare bird indeed. In all seriousness, one doesn’t need to look at the numbers to determine what kind of player Jonathan Toews is. They just need to look at his track record of success, and the success that the teams which he has led have had.