"You stay together as a team," Jonathan Toews on the Patrick Kane investigation

As captain of the defending Stanley Cup champions, Jonathan Toews was bound to be asked about Patrick Kane sooner or later.

In an interview on TSN 1290's "Hustler and Lawless" show in Winnipeg on Thursday, Toews was asked whether off-ice concerns change his focus heading into training camp as team captain. The host mentioned "a situation that has been developing regarding one of your star teammates" but didn't identify Kane, who's the subject of an ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual assault.

I think you've just got to have confidence that things like that will resolve themselves over time, Toews said, according to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun Times. And for the time being, you stay together as a team, you support your teammate (or) teammates that are maybe going through a rough patch.

Toews then shifted the focus to how he's handled situations in the past.

We saw it last year with some rumors that spread around social media about several guys in our locker room. It's not the first time we've seen situations like that. Eventually you just deal with it internally, you stay together as a team, and you're confident that as individuals and as a group, everyone kind of stays together.

And at the end of the day we always say to each other what is said and what is done within the locker room is the only thing that really matters. We don't let anything going on on the outside affect the way we do our job and the way we come to work together as a team.

He credited other veterans in the room for helping maintain unity.

I get a lot of credit 'cause I have a 'C' on my sweater, but I think we've got a great group of guys that understand what it takes to be a leader, what it takes to be a part of a good team, Toews said. Clearly, that's more than just what happens on the ice. There's always a lot of things being said and things going on off the ice. But no matter what, we do a good job of sticking together.

Kane has not been charged with a crime, nor is he facing suspension from the NHL or the Blackhawks.