The Chicago Blackhawks picked Toews third overall in the 2006 NHL draft. (Getty Images)

As Team Canada steamed toward victory at the recent world junior hockey championship in Sweden, the squad's leading scorer became a hot commodity. Coaches, teammates and reporters vied for Jonathan Toews' attention.

So did the Chicago Blackhawks, the team that selected Toews in the first round of last year's NHL Entry Draft. General manager Dale Tallon won a few minutes of the athlete's time.

"I let him know that the door was wide open," Tallon told the Illinois-based Daily Herald. "We can't wait to get him [in Chicago]."

Toews later returned to the University of North Dakota and Tallon returned to Chicago, where his team continued its protracted freefall.

Boisterous fans used to raise the roof at the old Chicago Stadium when Bobby Hull took the puck on his stick and accelerated through the neutral zone.

Those days are but a distant memory, however. The Blackhawks are down, and have been for a long time. Chicago has made the playoffs just once since the 1997-98 season.

A breath of fresh air

The franchise hopes Toews will help breathe new life into the team, but Chicago sports fans aren't counting on it — that is, those fans that still care.

Interest in the team has fallen along with its fortunes. Average attendance at home games is down to 12,855 — a six-per-cent drop from this point in 2006.

"This is a franchise that has fallen so far down the sports totem pole in Chicago, I don't think it's a stretch to say the Blackhawks are about as popular as the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer," Bob Foltman, who covers the Blackhawks for the Chicago Tribune, told CBC Sports Online.

Meanwhile, Toews, who was born in Winnipeg, has emerged as one of the best players in U.S. collegiate hockey. At the University of North Dakota, he has 13 goals and 25 assists in 27 games so far this season.

His performance in international competition has been even more impressive. In January 2005, Toews led Canada's Team Western to victory at the world junior championship for players 17 years old and younger. He was named the tournament's most valuable player.

He competed at the more prestigious world juniors last season and again this January, where he played a pivotal role in Team Canada's gold-medal victory.

Winnipegger Jonathan Toews was a key player on the Canadian team that won the gold medal at the world junior hockey championships last January. (Canadian Press)

Not only did he lead the squad in scoring, he was also a standout in the semifinal game. Toews scored three shootout goals and Canada defeated the United States 2-1.

His feat made him an overnight sensation in Canada — and for a week, his face was as recognizable in Winnipeg as the Tim Hortons' logo. More than 100 locals gave him a hero's welcome at the airport.

"[Teammate] Darren Helm and I came down the escalator heading toward the baggage carousel and there were tons of people there, including members of the media and people we didn't know," Toews told CBC Sports Online.

"It was just incredible."

Chicago Blackhawks executives are also impressed.

A complete player

"For someone so young, he's a complete player," Stan Bowman, the Blackhawks' director of hockey operations, told the CBC. "Typically, highly regarded kids are very good offensively but are not very developed defensively.

"But Jonathan is the exception there. He's well rounded, intelligent and has a good hockey sense. Overall, he has those qualities that can't be taught. You either have them or you don't — and he's got them."

Bowman said he expects Toews to be a star in the league three years from now.

"We certainly expect him to be a main player for us for many years to come."

It remains to be seen how Toews will do in the NHL, where many factors beside talent play a role — especially age and size.

"Yes, he was wonderful at the world juniors. Yes, he's probably a very good college player. But you're talking about him playing against other teenagers," said Foltman.

"You have him in the NHL next year and he's playing against men."

As well, Toews is 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds — an imposing figure at a school dance but not on the ice. Some observers wonder whether he's big enough to withstand the bone-crushing play in the NHL.

"He's not physically imposing like Mario Lemieux was when he came out of juniors. He's not a big guy like [Calgary Flames defenceman] Dion Phaneuf or Mark Messier," said Foltman. "Toews is basically a smallish player. I don't know if he'll be able to take the rigors of the NHL and an 82 game season."

It'll be clear soon enough — but perhaps not as soon as the Blackhawks would like. Toews is a sophomore at the University of North Dakota and might choose to stay in Grand Forks next season.

Toews has 38 points in 27 games for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux this season. (Getty Images)

"It's one of the things I'm trying not to think about," Toews recently told a Winnipeg newspaper when asked where he will play next season. "My focus is with my team, and if I leave at the end of the year, I want to make sure I leave on a good note.

"The Blackhawks have been very professional and have given me my space. They've been good about it."

"Jonathan is still in school now and we haven't had discussions about what he's going to do next season, but our desire is to bring him to the NHL," said Bowman.

The team's remaining fans have been curbing their enthusiasm.

Draft hasn't been kind to the Hawks

"The Blackhawks have to hope that the draft picks they're counting on, guys like Jonathan Toews, are as good as the franchise thinks they are," Foltman said. "But if you look at the franchise's history, they haven't been right."

Recent picks such as Michael Blunden and Dave Bolland have failed to make their mark in the NHL.

"In order to get back to the way it was when the United Center first opened in 1994 — and at that time the Blackhawks were drawing about 20,000 people a night — the team is going to have to go deep into the playoffs for three or four straight seasons," said Foltman.

"I don't think they're anywhere close to that level yet."

To his credit, Toews hasn't been positioning himself as the team's saviour.

"I hope I'm capable of being a top-line forward who puts points on the board. I want to be a responsible player and a leader," Toews said.

Then he added: "I'm not going to be that guy who goes out there and makes a big statement. I'm just an 18-year-old kid who has dreams of playing in the NHL and winning a Stanley Cup someday.

"Everyone dreams about that."