Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews battles for the puck against Tampa Bay’s Ryan Callahan during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday, June 13 in Tampa, Fla. Toews has won two world junior gold medals, world championship gold and silver, two Stanley Cups, two Olympic golds and a Conn Smythe Trophy.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
He is the owner of one of the most ridiculous accomplishment lists in the game, at only 27 years old.
Two world junior golds. World championship gold and silver. Two Stanley Cups. Two Olympic gold medals and one of 26 players in the exclusive Triple Gold Club. NHL all-rookie team, Conn Smythe Trophy, best forward at the Olympics. … That's Jonathan Toews. A walking, talking hockey trophy case.
With the Chicago Blackhawks one win away from adding to that, with their third Stanley Cup in six years, you hardly get the sense their captain is satisfied. All that winning has led to an appetite for more of it and a sense of emptiness when the Hawks fall short.
"You don't want to underachieve – you want to get the most out of each other," Toews explained in the quiet moments after his team won Game 5 in Tampa, their second successive hard-fought 2-1 win over the Lightning. "Find a way to come together as a group and give yourself a chance to be here. That's what everyone in this room wants.
"Whether the guys have been around for a couple months since the deadline or almost a decade, it's great that they understand how unique this group is and how unique this chance is. That's what we're working for. We're excited about the chance."
The Blackhawks actually have two chances here. The first, on Monday, is unique in that Chicago hasn't won a Cup in Chicago since 1938, back when Toews's great-grandfather was (presumably) racking up dozens of kickball championships in the schoolyard.
The second is back down in Tampa on Wednesday, in Game 7.
The will to win at home has become a big storyline in Chicago as their past two Cups were lifted in Philadelphia (in 2010) and Boston (in 2013), denying the massive United Center crowd the chance to fete their champions until the victory parade a few days later.
That's an interesting wrinkle for the local market, but what stands out with this group is how interminably focused and hungry they are to win again, regardless of where or when it is. The Blackhawks took last season's loss in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals hard, as they had badly wanted to become the NHL's first repeat champions in 16 years, a win that would have put them right into dynasty territory as the first team to win three in five since the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers teams (1984-90).
Even after six seasons of dominance – especially by salary-cap-era standards – this isn't an organization that has any interest in easing off and settling for anything less than perpetual contention.
"I mean, they've done it," said Brad Richards, one of the Blackhawks new additions after he signed a cheap free-agent deal last summer. "I think the more you do it, the more you get addicted to it. You're comfortable in those situations. When I got to win it in Tampa the first time [11 years ago] we were a bunch of young kids not really having a clue what we were doing.
"This group feels a lot more like they've been through it. There doesn't have to be a lot of speeches, reminders. The core group has kind of all done it together; they've grown up together. ... Everybody's kind of got their head in the right place. They're just used to doing it."
They are. It's not just Toews, either. Defenceman Duncan Keith's résumé is equally absurd – albeit at a different position – and he's the favourite to add a Conn Smythe should the Blackhawks persevere.
Then there's Marian Hossa, who has played in five of the past eight Stanley Cup finals. Richards won in 2004. And Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp and Niklas Hjalmarsson are all on the verge of their third Cup as Blackhawks.
It's a group with between five and seven future Hall of Famers – including coach Joel Quenneville – who have all made winning so routine that doing something no other team has done in ages feels rather normal.
In a way, that's become self-perpetuating: They've won, so they expect to win, so they aren't rattled by the twists and turns in games or series. There's a simple sureness to it all, to knowing they can win.
But that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. It's still what they dream of, even though many of them have been there many times before.
"There's still that excitement there when you win," Toews said. "You definitely know what you're missing [when you don't]. You want to get back there. We've worked really hard to get to where we are now…
"It's easy to daydream sometimes. All of a sudden you completely snap out of it, when you're thinking of winning the Cup and hoisting the Cup and all the things that come with it. We've got to try to get those thoughts out of our head and just focus on the task.
"I think that means playing our best game of the year. We know we've got it in us."