Blackhawks' Quenneville would prefer if Toews not drop his gloves

Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has been giving his all this season. His coach, however, believes that he's been giving a little too much.

In addition to contributing on the scoreboard, the 27-year-old has recently taken on the role of standing up for his teammates, and mucking it up in the fisticuffs department.

Though toughness in hockey is often a pleasant sight, head coach Joel Quenneville admitted he would rather if his star refrained from taking part in such activities.

"I don’t know if he’s enjoying that or what," Quenneville told Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. "But it’s not what we want."

Toews has been willing to mix it up more this season, having already dropped the gloves twice this month - first against New Jersey Devils forward Adam Henrique, and then versus St. Louis Blues forward David Backes. He also came close to dropping the gloves with Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Kesler Friday.

"I’m not sure what really happened there," Patrick Kane said of Toews' dust-up with Kesler. "It looked like a lot of slashing going on there to Jonny’s hands, and things like that. Jonny’s a competitive guy, and wants to stick up for himself."

Entering this season, Toews had only dropped the gloves three times during his eight years in the league.

Towes' newfound penchant for dropping the gloves hasn't hindered his offensive production this season. He sits third on the Blackhawks with eight goals, and is fifth on the team with 15 points in 23 games.

- Fighting stats courtesy hockeyfights.com