It was just a mere two months prior to today that Jonathan Toews was playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, albeit the 12th and final team of the expanded NHL bubble. The 32 year old has multiple Olympic Gold Medals and three Stanley Cup Championships, and he attempted to once again lead Chicago through the thick of the pack, and even eliminated Edmonton.

The Blackhawks are not the reigning World Champions, rather the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Blackhawks didn’t have much expectation for 2020, but Toews still expects to win every time out. The captain was drafted by Chicago in 2006. He’s Saad without his teammate Brandon, who was traded to the Avalanche. Corey Crawford is gone after the Blackhawks didn’t even offer him a deal. Slater Koekkeok and Drake Caggiula weren’t even offered qualifiers.

Toews is not ecstatic about the moves in anyway. He reached out to The Athletic (subscription) on Saturday night to offer his thoughts.

“Bottom line is I want to win. The expectation for the other leaders on this team and myself is to come ready to training camp every year to be a playoff team. We prepare ourselves to win a Cup for our fans. I’ve never been told that we were going through a rebuild. That has never been communicated to me, for that matter. A lot of this comes as a shock because it’s a completely different direction than we expected. It’s really disappointing. Crow [Corey Crawford] has given so much to this team. I feel he was ready to bring more in the next few years and still be a big part of this group. He had that mindset that he could help this team go deep in the playoffs again, and there’s no doubt that he could.”

While the fans have been suggesting a rebuild for some time, the team still has a winning mindset. The team clearly didn’t communicate to their top talent that they were entering rebuild mode. Toews is clearly struggling with the loss of Crawford, 35, who made his NHL debut for the Blackhawks in 2005.

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