Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews skated with the team Tuesday morning for the first time since he stepped away from playing to focus on his recovery from long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome and said he will try to play again this season. Here’s what you need to know:

Toews last played on Jan. 28 against Edmonton before taking a break to prioritize his health. He’s tallied 14 goals and 14 assists in 46 games this season.

Toews, who spoke with media after the skate, said he is feeling better but also realizes he could be in his final weeks with the Blackhawks.

He said he doesn’t know if he’ll play in the NHL beyond this season.

Backstory

The 34-year-old missed the entire 2020-21 season while dealing with Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, an unspecific diagnosis from his doctors for the ailment that left him feeling drained and lethargic. He had COVID-19 in February 2020 and said last month he was still dealing with long COVID as well.

Toews returned for the 2021-22 season and appeared in 71 games while adjusting to playing with his new health circumstances. He’s played his entire 15-year career in Chicago.

What Toews said

Toews said he had a sense in January that his body just wasn’t bouncing back as it had been earlier in the season. There were days he struggled to muster the energy to even get out of bed.

“I don’t know if it was when we were on the road a lot or leading up to the break and it just got to the point where I couldn’t move on the ice and didn’t even want to put on my skates or roll out of bed to come to the rink, so it was pretty rough there for a bit,” Toews said. “And so I think it probably took me a couple of weeks of just wrestling with, in my own mind, trying to figure out what the right decision was, if I should keep trying to push through it, which really didn’t feel like an option anymore. … Or kind of pulling the plug in and trying to focus my energy on getting better.”