Chicago Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews will be travelling with team, not playing against Minnesota Wild
Chicago Blackhawks will be taking off on a two-game road trip, starting off against Minnesota Wild in back-to-back matchups on Thursday and the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season finale against Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
While captain, Jonathan Toews, will be travelling with the team for both games, he is not expected to be playing against Minnesota Wild, a team that edged Chicago 5-4 in a shootout on Sunday.
Instead of taking a risk, Toews is not willing to play until he is given full clearance by the medical staff. Toews added that he was given clearance but still does not feel normal and does not want to aggravate the situation any further.
"There's still signs of the concussion lingering and, you know, when that's completely gone I'll be comfortable playing," said Toews, talking to Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc. "It's one of those things where it's very easy to come back if one little thing
goes wrong, so I'm just waiting for [the symptoms to completely subside]."
Critics term his decision as being unmanly and Toews himself as being scared to comeback on the ice, but if anybody has learned anything from the Sidney Crosby case, it is to make a comeback once your healthy or else saying bye to a season or two should
not be surprising.
"This isn't a tragedy," Toews said. "It's not life and death. I can still go to sleep at night and I'm not completely depressed. The guys are playing well. It's disappointing and it's not fun, but it's reality and you have to deal with it."
Definitely, concussions are not a simple topic as they have devastated the lives of many professional hockey players up until now. They should be properly treated and allowed to heal or else serious consequences may follow.
Toews, a resident of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was drafted as the third overall pick during round-three of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He played in 59 games this 2011-2012 regular season and has 57 points (29 goals, 28 assists) along with 28 minutes in penalty
time.
Although there is no confirmation whether Toews will be back playing with Chicago against Detroit Red Wings in their season finale on Saturday, there is a good chance he might make an appearance.
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