Captain Jonathan Toews headlines players returning for Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are getting a whole bunch of reinforcements Thursday. Jonathan Toews, Tyler Johnson, Calvin de Haan and Riley Stillman will all return, Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCS Chicago reports. Henrik Borgstrom and Erik Gustafsson will sit, while Alec Regula was returned to the minor leagues earlier Thursday.

While de Haan wasn’t technically on injured reserve, the other three were, with Johnson not playing since the end of October. The 31-year-old forward underwent the same artificial disk replacement surgery that Jack Eichel did and will play in just his ninth game of the season. Toews meanwhile has been out since January dealing with a concussion issue. His return will hopefully come with a resurgence offensively, as the Blackhawks captain was able to score just four times through his first 43 games.

That has been a huge part of why the team has struggled this season, and the future for Toews is now very murky. He missed all of 2020-21 with chronic immune response syndrome and now seems a shell of the player who was an annual Selke and Hart Trophy candidate. With new Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson indicating that a rebuild is coming for Chicago and Toews having just one year left on his contract, it’s hard to envision him playing there for many more seasons unless he can really find his game at some point. Only 33, (34 in April) getting back on the ice Thursday will be a good start.

In de Haan specifically, his return represents a very different situation. The 30-year-old defenseman is on an expiring contract and could be a nice trade deadline piece for the Blackhawks if he can show he’s healthy and relatively effective over the next few weeks. In 48 games this season he has just five points, but a physical defenseman who can play both sides and penalty kill will always be sought-after at the deadline.

Stillman meanwhile is potentially a piece for the future, as the 23-year-old signed a three-year, $4.05M contract extension last spring. In 28 games this season he actually has 10 points despite averaging fewer than 15 minutes a night. If players like de Haan are moved out at some point, the opportunity for a player like Stillman should be increased.