The Chicago Blackhawks have signed winger Nick Foligno to a two-year, $4.5 million contract.
Foligno, 36, is currently on a one-year, $4 million contract with the Blackhawks and was due to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason before re-signing. He signed that contract in the offseason of 2023, after Chicago obtained his signing rights in a trade with the Boston Bruins that also transferred Taylor Hall to the Blackhawks in return for Ian Mitchell and Alex Regula.
Foligno’s new deal will begin with the 2024-25 season, and no signing or performance bonuses have been disclosed as of yet. His $4.5 million salary is comparable to Michael Bunting, Brandon Saad, Artturi Lehkonen, Mason Marchment, Mikael Backlund, and Ryan O’Reilly, with the latter two indicating a trend, along with Foligno, that this is the salary given to veterans who still bring some value.
Foligno is having one of his more productive seasons in previous years, with 8 goals and 9 assists for 17 points in 39 games, partly due to his ability to play alongside Bedard on a regular basis. That would put him on pace for 35 points in 82 games, a figure he hasn’t reached since the 2018-19 season.
Even as he’s gotten older, Foligno remains one of the league’s greatest defensive forwards. Since the 2020-21 season, his 9.1 defensive goals above replacement rank him 23rd in the league among forwards, along with Alex Iafallo.
Foligno was the 28th overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft by the Ottawa Senators, where he spent five seasons before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Marc Methot in 2012. He then played parts of nine seasons in Columbus, including six as captain, before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2021 trade deadline. That offseason, he signed with the Boston Bruins for two seasons before his negotiation rights were moved to the Blackhawks at the end of that deal in the 2023 offseason, when he signed his current one-year, $4 million contract.
Foligno is the first of several free agents that the Blackhawks must re-sign, as the team presently has 10 unrestricted free agents and nine restricted free agents on the roster, not counting all players called up due to injury. They’re presently predicted to have just under $48 million in cap space to do so, so that should be more than doable, especially since some of those players may be traded before the trade deadline.
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