COLORADO AVALANCHE
Jun 17, 2025, 1:28 PM
BY TRENT FINNEGAN
Sports Writer, Denver Sports
The NHL offseason is heating up for the 30 teams who are not in contention for the Stanley Cup with free agency right around the corner on July 1. For the Colorado Avalanche, they’ve made most of the necessary moves after they locked Brock Nelson in for the near future with a contract extension, but there’s still one more move on the radar that could bring a difference maker to Colorado.
Jonathan Toews, a three-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Chicago Blackhawks and the winner of the 2010 Conn Smythe Trophy, has been confirmed to be making a comeback for the 2025-26 season. He likely only has one year of NHL hockey left, and clearly wants to spend that year on a team that is in contention for a Cup, and the Avalanche and the Winnipeg Jets are the two landing spots that he has been linked to recently.
In 1,067 career games, Toews has 372 goals and 511 assists in 15 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, to go with trophy case full of championship rings and other individual awards.
After NHL insider Pierre Lebrun named the Avalanche as one of the teams linked to the center last week, Chris Johnston, The Athletic’s Senior NHL Insider, reiterated the fact that the Avalanche landing Toews is very plausible.
“Winnipeg and Colorado are the most likely potential landing spots for him,” Johnston said on “The Chris Johnston Show” on Monday. “And I do think he’s going to get to the finish line on a decision in the relatively near future … He’s one of the first free agents … that’s going to pick their landing spot.”
While Johnston made it seem like Winnipeg is Toews’ first choice just by the way he was talking about the Jets’ needs and the potential fit, he made sure to say that Colorado is right there as well.
“The Colorado Avalanche is in his wheelhouse, potentially too,” Johnston said. “If you’re Jonathan, it’s about the fit, it’s about coming back to a winning situation which I think both of those teams (Winnipeg) offer him.”
Johnston also related Toews’ comeback story to that of Gabriel Landeskog’s. What better pairing than to unite the two aging stars in Denver for one last run at a Cup?
“What an opportunity for a great story it would be. First of all, much like Gabriel Landeskog, I think people are cheering for Toews to get back,” Johnston said.
Toews hasn’t seen any NHL action since the end of the 2023 season as he has fought long COVID and chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). Given the fast-paced, physical nature of NHL hockey, especially playoff hockey, Toews’ body just hasn’t been at the right level to compete in recent years. He also missed the 2020-21 season with the same issues, but played most of the ’21 and ’22 seasons.
The Avalanche already have four centers on the roster with Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson (who just signed a new contract with Colorado), Charlie Coyle and Jack Drury, so one of them, likely Coyle or Drury, would need to be traded out of Colorado to get Toews to sign here.
If Toews were to sign with the Avalanche, he wouldn’t be putting up MacKinnon numbers and competing for the Hart Trophy. He would be a third or fourth line center that would be a phenomenal veteran presence in the locker room and could bring loads of wisdom that not even Landeskog and Erik Johnson have. However, it would still be a great signing for the Avs, who need to maximize their shrinking Cup window as much as they can.

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