Jonathan Toews travels to India for “detoxing” in hopes of resuming his NHL career

Is Jonathan Toews done? 

The long-time Chicago Blackhawks captain announced after the 2022-23 NHL season that he was stepping away from hockey in order to "fully heal and enjoy life to the fullest." 

“My focus is to give myself the time and space to fully heal and enjoy life to the fullest once again,” he posted on Instagram in August, 2023. “Along the way I have met several people who have struggled with health issues pertaining to long COVID, chronic immune response syndrome, and other similar cases that are quite complex. I now recognize the importance of one day sharing the details of my health journey with you all.”

This past offseason came and went with nary a peep about Toews returning to play. Instead, we were only treated to social media posts of his exploits surfing on the West Coast and taking in the festivities at Burning Man. That's right... Captain Serious is living his best life at a music festival in the desert.

I've gotta say... I didn't see that one coming.

Today, though... Toews hit his fans with another curve ball: He's been in India undergoing detox therapy.

From Toews:

As some of you may know, I’ve been on a bit of a healing journey. I’ve had many ups and downs, brief moments of hope working with a whole bunch of different doctors and modalities, followed by doubting if things would ever improve. But I recently spent 5 weeks in India undergoing an Ayurvedic detox called a Panchakarma, and I’m happy to say things are trending.

Ayurveda translates to ‘Knowledge of Life’ and has been the healing science of India for over 5,000 years. This system views our bodies as delicate ecosystems, influenced by everything we consume as far as energy, information, thoughts, feelings, and food. In short, it teaches that our health can thrive when we learn to simplify our lives, create space for stillness and better align ourselves with nature’s rhythms. A Panchakarma is a healing protocol designed to restore your health by cleansing and releasing toxins stored deep in the body.

It’s too long of a story to share all the details here, but it’s been almost 5 years of searching for a way to heal the inflammatory and immune system issues that took me out of hockey. The wisdom of Ayurveda has taught me that everything I experience, I am responsible for. Not only did it teach me better diet choices specific to my body type, it has deepened my intuitive relationship with myself and the world around me.

- Jonathan Toews

I've gotta say... I did not expect Captain Serious to go full-on "George Harrison".

Let's get real here: He's done, right?

He's all but officially retired at this point, correct?

Todd Welter of BlackhawkUp.com reports that although Toews hasn't officially announced his retirement, it looks less and less likely that he's going to resume his NHL career.

"Maybe an official announcement will never come," Welter says in his latest column. "He seems to be enjoying life away from the spotlight. He probably does have to officially file some sort of retirement paperwork for Hall of Fame eligibility. If it does, it might be a short press release rather than a major gathering and emotional speech."

Personally, I can't see Toews coming back at this point. He's out there living his best life, which doesn't include the slog of an 82 game NHL schedule.