January 29, 2025
By Adam Ruffner
Pawel Janas ended his multi-year contract with Los Angeles today, and re-signed with his former team the Chicago Union for the 2025 season. The league’s all-time leader in assists, completions, hockey assists (throw before the assist), and total yards, Janas was selected to five straight All-UFA teams with the Union from 2017 through 2022, and helped Chicago to back-to-back Championship Weekend appearances in his final two seasons with the squad.
The Union have already had a loud offseason, returning most of their starting core from last year’s playoff team, re-adding stars Nate Goff and Paul Arters, and signing top European talent. With the return of the eyeblack-clad face of their franchise in Janas, Chicago suddenly feels like a championship contender again.
“There is now a chip on the shoulders of a lot of people in Chicago,” Head Coach Dave Woods told Ian Toner earlier this month. The Union lost in sudden death, double overtime on the road in Madison to end their 2024 season.
“We’re ready for the revenge tour.”
Chicago’s D-line played like a top five defense last year, but the Union offense has struggled over the past two seasons in the absence of Janas. During his last year with the team in 2022, Chicago registered one of the six best offensive efficiency seasons in league history, converting on nearly 64 percent of their total offensive possessions. Without their primary passer, Chicago has mustered a conversion rate of just 47 percent combined in 2023 and 2024.
The raw passing production numbers put him in a different strata on the all-time leaderboards, but it's Janas’s consistency that has made him a true legend. He’s registered at least one assist in all 94 of his career starts, and has never completed fewer than 29 throws in a single game; throw god Rowan McDonnell averages just under 29 completions per game through 104 career starts, for comparison’s sake. Even in a three-win season with the Aviators last year, Janas led the league in completions and hockey assists per game, marking him as one of the most indispensable players inside the red zone in the UFA.
Chicago has gone from tantalizing to title seeking in the month of January. Is their offseason spree enough to topple the reigning champs from Minnesota and retake the Central Division from the Wind Chill’s two-year reign?