A LONG TIME IN THE MAKING
Toews’ COVID, a factor in new hiatus, may be a career-ender
More than two years after he was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory response syndrome, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is still battling its draining effects.
That’s concerning. But it’s arguably even more concerning that Toews, when announcing Sunday that he’s stepping away from the Hawks, also named long COVID-19 as the other condition he’s dealing with.
The veteran forward had mentioned COVID as a potential contributing factor in his health issues during an interview with The Athletic in 2021, but Sunday was the first time he publicly identified himself as a long COVID patient — meaning he continues to experience adverse effects even after recovering from an active COVID infection.
The good news is his overall condition doesn’t seem as dire as it did two years ago. Toews was still able to work out and skate last week, even if his body didn’t respond as desired. The Hawks’ optimism that he might return before the end of the season is also telling.
The bad news, however, is the longevity of these problems. All indications are that Toews has continued to feel varying amounts of what coach Luke Richardson described as “fatigue and soreness” since returning to action in September 2021. Two-plus years of fighting through low energy is a long time in hockey, especially for a player who will turn 35 in April with 1,197 games of wear on his tires.
It’s hard to predict the future with much certainty right now, but it’s fair to say Toews’ playing career may be in jeopardy. Barring a significant improvement during the next few months, retirement could be a possibility this summer, as much as Toews’ competitive spirit may cause him to resist it.
Consider the comments of goalie Alex Stalock, who got a firsthand look at Toews’ struggles while skating alongside him last week.
“It’s not easy,” Stalock said. “He’s going through something that a lot of people have no clue about . . . . This group obviously needs him here and wants him here. To have a guy like that out of your lineup, it hurts. I know his No. 1 importance is health for himself.”
The information unfortunately matches up with what Dr. Benjamin Abramoff, director of the Post-COVID Assessment and Recovery Clinic at Penn Medicine, has seen in many of his patients.
“Long COVID is a very general term ... [but] there are some symptoms that are very common,” Abramoff said. “One of the most prominent symptoms is fatigue and, going along with that, loss of physical endurance or exercise capacity. But there are a number of other symptoms: cognitive impairment, pain, insomnia. It can take many different forms.”
Although Abramoff has seen symptoms fluctuate from day to day or week to week, he said it would be “very unusual” for someone to nearly fully recover from long COVID and then experience a relapse. That further supports the theory that Toews has quietly but continuously battled this since 2020.
Although numerous clinical trials are now studying possible treatments for long COVID, nothing has been proven effective yet, meaning only symptomatic treatments are available, such as medicine to reduce fatigue.
“[Long COVID] can be certainly more noticeable if someone is trying to go to these high levels of athletic performance,” Abramoff said. “There are definitely professional athletes and high-level amateur athletes who really have trouble getting back to their prior level.”
In other words, at this point, there’s little that can be done beyond hoping for the best for Toews.
Even if these conditions force his retirement from hockey, he still has the rest of his life left, and his ability to enjoy it in good health is the most important thing.
“We’re supporting him, and we let him know that,” longtime teammate Patrick Kane said. “Hopefully he does what he has to do to feel better.”