Latest news with #CIRS
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jonathan Toews returns to NHL after two-year absence, signs with hometown Winnipeg Jets
After two seasons out of the NHL, former Chicago Blackhawks legend Jonathan Toews is making a comeback. Toews, who sat out the past two seasons due to health issues, signed a deal with the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, the team announced. Toews, 37, last played in the NHL during the 2022-23 season. Injuries disrupted his season, causing him to play in just 53 games. He scored a career-low 31 points. While Toews' career got off to a tremendous start, injuries disrupted his Hall of Fame performance in his prime. Toews missed the entire 2020-21 NHL season after being diagnosed with chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). He returned to action the following year, but scored just 37 points. After another tough season in 2022-23, Toews said CIRS and Long COVID were still affecting his game. Advertisement That August, Toews said he intended to sit out the 2023-24 season to focus on recovery. In March of 2025, Toews said he was ready to return to the NHL, telling The Athletic, "I still think there's something left to give.' Toews added that he wanted a fresh start, and wanted to play for a team other than the Blackhawks. It's impossible to overstate the impact Toews had on Chicago after he was selected as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft. He exceeded lofty expectations, leading the team to three Stanley Cup championships. Toews also won the 2009-10 Conn Smythe award and the Selke Trophy during the 2012-13 season for his defensive excellence. Two seasons later, he was awarded the Mark Messier leadership award. In 15 seasons with the Blackhawks, Toews registered 372 goals, 511 assists and 883 points. Those figures rank sixth, eighth and sixth — respectively — in Blackhawks history.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
What happened to Jonathan Toews in 2-year absence before Jets contract?
Jonathan Toews is officially back in the NHL after a multi-year hiatus. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and former Chicago Blackhawks captain reportedly signed a one-year deal with his hometown Winnipeg Jets and will be back on the ice in 2025-26. It's been a long road for Toews, who announced he was stepping away from hockey for health reasons in August 2023, but refused to call it a retirement. Advertisement Now at 37 years old and, hopefully, back to full strength the former Selke-winner is ready to revive his career. If you haven't been following along, here's what Toews has been up to since he last took the ice. What happened to Jonathan Toews? Toews' struggles really began years before his hiatus. The center missed the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season while dealing with chronic inflammatory response syndrome. He planned to return for the 2021-22 season, but that return was complicated by lingering effects of long COVID and CIRS. The 2021-22 health problems stretched into 2022-23, a season in which he played just 53 games and scored a career-low 31 points as the Blackhawks continued to crater in the standings. Toews' contract expired at the end of the season, along with Patrick Kane's, and the Blackhawks declined to re-sign their captain and accept it was time to rebuild. Advertisement That led to Toews taking a break from hockey, though he always made clear his intentions to return. What did Toews do on his hiatus? A week or so after announcing he was stepping away, Toews began his hiatus by... playing hockey. He participated in Marian Hossa's farewell exhibition fundraiser in Trenčín, Slovakia and then began his adventures off the ice. He took up surfing, attended Burning Man and then went on a healing journey to India in December 2024. After his trip, Toews told GQ's Matthew Roberson his health issues began much earlier than was previously known: "If I do look back on my career, I always kind of had digestive issues, immune system issues—nothing seriously chronic or diagnosed when I was young—but definitely in my teenage years I was always battling something. "Early in my career, it was probably my second season in the NHL, I kept getting sick, I couldn't sleep at night, all these things where it just finally got to the point where I was like, 'All right.' I always thought, in my mind, that everyone else just felt that way and that was just normal, but then it got so bad that I barely made it through the playoffs that year." Notably, the GQ conversation ended with Toews declaring he was still itching to get back on the ice. Advertisement In March 2025, Toews took those comments a step further by declaring his intention to return to the NHL. "I'm not satisfied the way things ended in Chicago," Toews told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. "It's not about proving anything. It's just that there's something left in the tank, and I want to explore that. I want to go have fun, have a blast, play with passion. 'I want to be able to step away from the game having said that I've given it my all.' Now he's got his chance. This article originally appeared on For The Win: What happened to Jonathan Toews in 2-year absence before Jets contract?
USA Today
20-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
What happened to Jonathan Toews in 2-year absence before Jets contract?
Jonathan Toews is officially back in the NHL after a multi-year hiatus. The three-time Stanley Cup champion and former Chicago Blackhawks captain reportedly signed a one-year deal with his hometown Winnipeg Jets and will be back on the ice in 2025-26. It's been a long road for Toews, who announced he was stepping away from hockey for health reasons in August 2023, but refused to call it a retirement. Now at 37 years old and, hopefully, back to full strength the former Selke-winner is ready to revive his career. If you haven't been following along, here's what Toews has been up to since he last took the ice. What happened to Jonathan Toews? Toews' struggles really began years before his hiatus. The center missed the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season while dealing with chronic inflammatory response syndrome. He planned to return for the 2021-22 season, but that return was complicated by lingering effects of long COVID and CIRS. The 2021-22 health problems stretched into 2022-23, a season in which he played just 53 games and scored a career-low 31 points as the Blackhawks continued to crater in the standings. Toews' contract expired at the end of the season, along with Patrick Kane's, and the Blackhawks declined to re-sign their captain and accept it was time to rebuild. That led to Toews taking a break from hockey, though he always made clear his intentions to return. What did Toews do on his hiatus? A week or so after announcing he was stepping away, Toews began his hiatus by... playing hockey. He participated in Marian Hossa's farewell exhibition fundraiser in Trenčín, Slovakia and then began his adventures off the ice. He took up surfing, attended Burning Man and then went on a healing journey to India in December 2024. After his trip, Toews told GQ's Matthew Roberson his health issues began much earlier than was previously known: "If I do look back on my career, I always kind of had digestive issues, immune system issues—nothing seriously chronic or diagnosed when I was young—but definitely in my teenage years I was always battling something. "Early in my career, it was probably my second season in the NHL, I kept getting sick, I couldn't sleep at night, all these things where it just finally got to the point where I was like, 'All right.' I always thought, in my mind, that everyone else just felt that way and that was just normal, but then it got so bad that I barely made it through the playoffs that year." Notably, the GQ conversation ended with Toews declaring he was still itching to get back on the ice. In March 2025, Toews took those comments a step further by declaring his intention to return to the NHL. "I'm not satisfied the way things ended in Chicago," Toews told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. "It's not about proving anything. It's just that there's something left in the tank, and I want to explore that. I want to go have fun, have a blast, play with passion. 'I want to be able to step away from the game having said that I've given it my all.' Now he's got his chance.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Jonathan Toews returns to NHL after two-year absence, signs with home-town Winnipeg Jets
After two seasons out of the NHL, former Chicago Blackhawks legend Jonathan Toews is making a comeback. Toews, who sat out the past two seasons due to health issues, signed a deal with the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, the team announced. Toews was in the midst of a Hall of Fame career when injuries struck. Toews missed the entire 2020-21 NHL season after being diagnosed with chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS). He returned to action the following year, but posted a career-low in points. After another tough season in 2022-23, Toews said CIRS and long COVID were still affecting his game. Advertisement That August, Toews said he intended to sit out the 2023-24 season to focus on recovery. This story will be updated.
The Age
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Age
Aimee's rental is making her sick. One in three homes have the same issue
Aimee Morton first noticed mould in her Brisbane rental about a year ago. It started with a few black patches on the bathroom ceiling, before spreading into her bedroom. 'The smell was potent,' she says. 'Even now, it's still so thick.' She reported it to her property manager, but it wasn't until the third visit, in October last year, a leak was discovered in the roof. By the time the landlord began to fix the roof – the week before Cyclone Alfred was due to hit – black mould was spreading through Morton's house. The structural damage was so bad one tradesman fell through the kitchen ceiling. 'I was standing ... about two tiles away from where his foot went through,' she says. Mould is a fungus that grows and spreads in damp, humid conditions and poorly ventilated spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. It can cause serious health issues, from skin irritation and respiratory infections, to severe illness. Exposure to black mould is especially dangerous for those with underlying health conditions and allergen sensitivities, and has been linked to biotoxin-related illness chronic inflammatory response syndrome, or CIRS. Morton is immunocompromised and suffers health challenges. The 29-year-old is terminally ill with a muscle and nerve degenerative disease. She uses a wheelchair and has been profoundly deaf for the past 10 years. The next stage of her disease will rob her of vision. 'Then it's organ failure.' Loading Since the mould appeared, she says she's been hospitalised five times. 'I'm currently coughing up blood because the mould is killing my throat … my partner has eczema, but it's never been this bad. 'We're both asthmatic, so we can't breathe properly.' Architectural scientist and mould expert Tim Law says the health impacts of mould exposure are not widely understood, but a federal inquiry in 2018 brought attention to the issue. 'The inquiry put pressure on a lot of parties to deal with this … and keep condensation management on the front burner,' he says. Last year, the Queensland government introduced regulation enforcing minimum housing standards in rental properties, with provisions to ensure homes are weatherproof and structurally sound, and free from vermin, damp and mould. Tenants can seek compensation or a rent reduction if a landlord fails to take reasonable steps to address issues, or the home is unfit to live in. Tenants Queensland chief executive Penny Carr says owners have a responsibility to prevent rental properties becoming uninhabitable, but notes complications can arise. 'This often happens after a natural disaster, when a tenant might get a notice to leave for non-liveability. They can only get that notice if it's not due to a failure to repair. '[Owners have a] responsibility to provide that property in a way that's fit to live in and meets all health and safety obligations, and to continue maintaining that property in that way as well.' Law's research points to an even bigger problem. In Australia, an estimated one in three houses are affected by mould and moisture, often a result of poor design. It's particularly prevalent in homes that aren't adequately ventilated or use condensation-prone building materials. Law says this can be an unintended consequence of measures to improve building safety, as seen after the 2009 Victorian bushfires. '[Changes were introduced] to make spaces more airtight so that embers wouldn't blow into the spaces,' Law explains. Loading 'But by making a space more airtight … it created bigger condensation humidity problems. 'There's a whole range of reasons why our buildings are letting us down ... some of these problems are not easy to fix because they are designed and built in.' Lack of regulation targeting condensation is another issue. While Australia has taken steps towards improving energy efficiency, condensation management has been comparatively ignored. 'It's a missed opportunity because the science is clear, but we don't have the political will to do it,' Law says. Prolonged condensation can rot and corrode building materials, as was the case in Morton's rental. Shortly after the foot through her kitchen ceiling, a plumber came to Morton's house to fix a blocked shower drain, caused by tree roots in her front yard. Mould and damp were discovered inside the bathroom walls. 'At this point, I said [to the real estate] that I would like for an actual mould specialist to come and test the air … and get a full household treatment.' Despite mould specialists attending the property, Morton says it has not been treated properly, and there are sections of the house where mould has been painted over. She adds that medical equipment, including her hospital bed, and personal items such as clothes and furniture, were damaged during repairs. 'We've just had so much damage, it's unbelievable.' Morton is worried she and partner Chloe will soon be homeless. Their property manager recently advised a $60 a week rental increase, which they cannot afford. After being hospitalised for the fifth time, she says they have no choice but to look for somewhere else to live. 'I pay $490 a week, which is far too much money while on a pension, but that was my only option two years ago, or I would have been homeless,' she says. Loading Finding alternative accommodation in an unaffordable and competitive housing market adds another layer to the issue. '[I'm applying for places] with 50 to 60 other applications per house,' Morton says. 'I'm going blind and I'm deaf. Soon my world will be very, very dark … all I want is a safe home to live in.' Law says stories like these motivate his work and advocacy. '[But if you] take a person out of the building that is making them sick, the problem is: Where do they go? 'I think there's something special about a person being able to be safe in their own houses, and there's something utterly treacherous about your house making you sick.
