The Chicago Blackhawks traded away another veteran before Friday’s 2 p.m. deadline, sending captain Nick Foligno to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for future considerations and ending the forward’s three-season stint with the team.
Foligno, 38, will be an unrestricted free agent after the season — his 19th in the NHL — and wasn’t expected to return to the Hawks, who are building around young star Connor Bedard. Still, Foligno made clear Thursday his feelings about leading the team.
“I made it no surprise how much I care about this group,” he said, referring to conversations with general manager Kyle Davidson. “I believe in this group so much and it’s been an absolute honor to be the captain here.
“There’s a competitor inside you, too, that wants to be playing meaningful games.”
In Minnesota, he’ll get to play with his brother Marcus for a team that entered Friday third in the Western Conference with 82 points.
“I wish we were 10 points in (playoff position) and none of this happens,” Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “But we’re not, and for an opportunity to go and play with your brother, be part of something with your brother — I have a brother and it would be an unbelievable thing. I know that means a ton to him and his family. I know how important that is.
“Then for me personally, he’s been 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, (Jason Dickinson) and (Tyler Bertuzzi), we had great papa bears who have helped these guys along, and Nick certainly led us in that.
“He’s an outstanding human being, one of the best I’ve been around, so I’ll miss him personally and we’ll miss him as a group.”
It was Davidson’s third deal of the week after sending first Murphy and then Dickinson and Colton Dach to the Edmonton Oilers in separate trades Monday and Wednesday. The Hawks received a 2028 second-round pick for Murphy and got left wing Andrew Mangiapane and a top-12-protected first-round pick in 2027 for Dickinson and Dach.
A fourth trade Friday sent forward prospect Aidan Thompson, 24, to the New York Rangers for defenseman Derrick Pouliot, 32. Thompson, a 2022 third-round pick, had six goals and nine assists in 40 games for Rockford this season. Pouliot was playing for Hartford of the AHL.
In a statement, Davidson called Foligno “instrumental in helping our young players develop both on and off the ice.”
“He’s been an exemplary role model who has helped us set the future culture of Blackhawks hockey over the last three years,” Davidson said. “It’s bittersweet to see him go, and we wish Nick — and his wife, Janelle, and their kids, Milana, Landon and Hudson — the best in this special opportunity to play with his brother in Minnesota.”
The Hawks acquired Foligno and Taylor Hall in a June 2023 trade with the Boston Bruins, and in January 2024 Foligno signed a two-year, $9 million extension through the 2025-26 season.
He was named the 35th captain in franchise history on the eve of training camp in September 2024. He replaced Jonathan Toews, a three-time Stanley Cup winner who had stepped away from the NHL a year earlier because of health issues.
The trades this week mean the Hawks need all new captains — Dickinson, 30, and Murphy, 32, were the alternates.
Bedard, 20, was named an alternate after the Murphy deal, and Bertuzzi, 31, will wear the “A” starting with Friday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks at the United Center. Blashill said he wouldn’t name a new captain until at least the offseason.
Foligno had 35 goals and 48 assists (83 points) in 189 games with the Hawks, who finished with the second-worst record in the NHL in his first two seasons. At 23-28-10 (56 points) entering Friday, they’re near the bottom of the league again.
The Ottawa Senators selected Foligno with the No. 28 pick in the 2006 draft, and he played five seasons there, followed by stints with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Bruins before the Hawks acquired him. He spent six years as Blue Jackets captain from 2015-21.
Foligno has 608 points in 1,270 career games. He scored his most recent goal, No. 250, on Sunday in Salt Lake City in the Hawks’ 4-0 win over the Utah Mammoth.
Foligno and his dad, Mike, are one of two father-son duos in NHL history to have played 1,000 regular-season games each. Hawks legend Bobby Hull and son Brett is the other.
It will be a quick reunion for Foligno, as the Hawks and Wild play a home-and-home series March 17 and 19. Bedard playfully told his former captain to get ready.
