{"id":508256,"date":"2026-03-07T00:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/508256\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T00:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T00:59:08","slug":"blackhawks-trade-captain-nick-foligno-to-wild-joining-brother-marcus-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/508256\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks trade captain Nick Foligno to Wild, joining brother Marcus in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage<\/a> of the NHL trade deadline.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Blackhawks traded forward Nick Foligno to the Minnesota Wild on Friday, Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill confirmed.<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks are receiving future considerations in the deal, a Wild team source said.<\/p>\n

Foligno, 38, is in the final year of his contract with a $4.5 million cap hit. He has three goals and eight assists in 37 games this season.<\/p>\n

Foligno had been torn about whether he wanted to finish the season with the Blackhawks or try to pursue a Stanley Cup ring, something that has eluded him in his 19-year NHL career. Now, he\u2019ll get to pursue his first championship alongside his brother, Marcus, who is in his ninth season with the Wild.<\/p>\n

Nick Foligno almost signed with the Wild in 2021 but chose Boston because he felt it would be too hard to play with his brother at that juncture. This is a gesture by the Blackhawks to give Foligno a chance to close his career playing with his younger brother and a chance to contend for the Cup. He will meet the Wild in Colorado on Saturday and could debut Sunday afternoon against the Avalanche.<\/p>\n

Nick called Marcus a half hour before the news broke and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to a different team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI go, \u2018Oh, s\u2014, but congrats. That\u2019s awesome though,’\u201d Marcus said. \u201cAnd then he\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019ll see you in a few hours!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cJust crazy. It\u2019s a crazy moment in our family and just to know you\u2019re going to play with your brother is a dream come true,\u201d Marcus added. \u201cI\u2019ve got the shakes going right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marcus said his brother, who played center all year in Chicago and can play up and down the lineup, is willing to accept whatever role he\u2019s given.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to be a part of this group and to play with me, obviously,\u201d Marcus said. \u201cHe feels kind of invested in this group for a while now. He just wants to help out any way he can. And, hopefully it\u2019s a long ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how his family took the news, Marcus said: \u201cI think everyone\u2019s crying right now. I think my dad\u2019s bawling, everyone\u2019s bawling. Everyone is excited; they can\u2019t believe it. Our sisters are excited, our wives are going nuts right now. The kids can\u2019t believe it. We\u2019ve wanted this for four or five years now, and it\u2019s exciting to see it come to fruition and then just have a reality of us playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached by The Athletic on Friday, Nick Foligno said he was grateful for his time in Chicago and for the Wild for making this outcome happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis definitely made it a little easier to leave, only because of the tie with my brother, knowing how good a team Minnesota is. But I wasn\u2019t planning on leaving. I just want to make that clear,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there was a conversation Kyle (Davidson, Blackhawks GM) and I had, just where this team was headed and if I wanted (the trade),\u201d Nick said. \u201cI think it was just the reality of like, man, I really want more crack at (the Stanley Cup) if possible, but I didn\u2019t know what the possibilities were.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I say I give Kyle a lot of credit for allowing me the opportunity and kind of going out there and finding who is available and obviously Bill Guerin for stepping up. There were a few other teams. It just humbles you because I know where I\u2019m at, I know what I can still bring, but they always need a dance partner. It\u2019s nice to know that they think of me in that way and that I can come in and help this team. I\u2019m going to do my best for the Minnesota Wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day earlier, Foligno spoke about his conversations with Davidson and weighing his future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve made it no (secret) how much I care about this group, especially as a guy who\u2019s led this group for a few years. You feel weird when you have those hard conversations. But it\u2019s the reality of where we\u2019re sitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have expiring contracts or the age I\u2019m at, there\u2019s always a personal thing that you go through, too. You want to still compete and battle and win, and so that\u2019s the fight that you have. I believe in this group so much, and it\u2019s been an absolute honor to be the captain here. \u2026 But there\u2019s a competitor inside you, too, that wants to be playing meaningful games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks were among the worst teams in the league during Foligno\u2019s three seasons. Foligno played a pivotal role as a transitional captain between the Jonathan Toews era and the inevitable Connor Bedard captaincy. He threw himself into his role as everybody\u2019s big brother \u2014 many of his younger teammates jokingly called him their hockey dad \u2014 and tried to prepare Bedard and the other young players to take over the team when veterans like himself, Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson were gone.<\/p>\n

Foligno always skirted the line between earnest and corny, but nobody ever doubted his sincerity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing is how much I care about this group,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s something that probably even surprised me, in a short time, about how much I\u2019ve enjoyed being a Chicago Blackhawk and being here with this team and seeing the growth and maturation of a lot of guys and where we\u2019re trying to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blashill addressed the trade with the media on Friday: \u201cObviously, one I\u2019m happy for him. \u2026 I wish we were 10 points in and none of this happens, but we\u2019re not and for an opportunity to go and play with your brother, be part of something with your brother \u2014 I have a brother and it would be an unbelievable thing. So, I know that means a ton to him and his family. I know how important that is.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then for me personally, just he\u2019s been awesome. Awesome for me, awesome for this organization, but for me personally, coming in this year, having a chance to try to create culture and with the help of (Connor) Murphy, \u2018Dickey\u2019 (Jason Dickinson), Bert (Todd Bertuzzi), all our vets, we had just great papa bears who have helped these guys along, and Nick certainly led us in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a great sounding board for me, been around the league a long time, so when I had things that I wanted to discuss and get a feel for from a player\u2019s perspective, I could always lean on him. He\u2019s an outstanding human being, one of the best I\u2019ve been around, so I\u2019ll miss him personally and we\u2019ll miss him as a group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the NHL trade deadline. The Chicago Blackhawks traded forward Nick Foligno to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4824,4828,385,99],"class_list":["post-508256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}