Jonathan Toews one of just two players to vote against NHL's Return to Play plan
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Chicago Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews was one of just two players on the NHLPA's Executive Board to vote against the NHL and the NHLPA's Collective Bargaining Agreement extension, which included the league's Return to Play plan.
“I have been told by many, many, many players that one of the most vocal players during the process of coming back to play was Jonathan Toews, that he asked a lot of questions,” Friedman said on the latest episode of his podcast, '31 Thoughts'. “And other players really defended him. They said he was great, he asked relevant questions, he challenged whether or not this was really safe to play.”
Friedman claims that Toews' issues, which resulted in him voting against the agreement, were likely due to concern of the health and safety of the players playing in the playoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The other team rep to vote against a return to play was Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook, according to Friedman.
Unfortunately for Toews, representatives from all other teams in the league voted in favour of the Return to Play plan, which has resulted in the NHL gearing up to return to playoffs. The playoffs will begin in early August, which will include a five-game play-in series between Toews' Blackhawks taking on the Edmonton Oilers.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 10, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Cutter Gauthier | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Alex Newhook | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alexander Killorn | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Beckett Sennecke | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Zachary Bolduc | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kirby Dach | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikael Granlund | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ian Moore | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||