Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews had high expectations coming into this season. He was back and ready to play the game he loves. He missed all of last season with chronic immune response syndrome, and wasn't sure if he'd ever play again.
Chicago made some big additions in the off-season bringing in Seth Jones and Marc-Andre Fleury. Then the Kyle Beach sexual assault came to light as the season was getting going. The play on the ice was terrible as the team went 1-9-2 to start the season. This cost Jeremy Colliton his job. He was replaced by former NHLer Derek King.
Things haven't gotten much better since. They sit 7th in the Central with 55 points. Toews has just 8 goals and 25 points in 52 games this season. He is signed for one more season after this one at a cap hit of 10.5 million. The GM has publicly stated that the team is embarking on a full rebuild and that was on full display with the trades of Marc-Andre Fleury and Brandon Hagel at the Deadline.
Toews is only owed $6,900,000 in actual cash next season and $4,900,000 of that it to be paid out in signing bonus. There are likely many salary cap floor teams like Arizona who would be willing to take on a 50% cap hit to get themselves to the cap floor while retaining minimal actual dollars.
