![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/STP-Z-2267120863_260701840.jpg\")
Nick Foligno #71 of the Minnesota Wild waves as he is recognized during the first period against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on March 17, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nIn the Minnesota Wild\u2019s final game of the 2025-26 season, veteran forward Nick Foligno had an offensive breakout. The hard-nosed bottom six forward, who came to the Wild at the trade deadline after serving as the Chicago Blackhawks\u2019 captain for the past two seasons, scored two of Minnesota\u2019s three goals in the first period of what eventually became an overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche.<\/p>\n
The biggest part of the trade for Foligno, who will turn 39 on Halloween, was living out a dream of playing alongside his younger brother Marcus, often on the same line in March, April and May. But in coming to Minnesota, Nick quickly found a new family in St. Paul.<\/p>\n
Nick Foligno #71 of the Minnesota Wild waves as he is recognized during the first period against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on March 17, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoyed the group of guys, the brothers that I gained,\u201d he said last week as players cleaned out their lockers following the 4-1 series loss to Colorado. \u201cI have one already, but gained about 20 more, and how quickly they brought me in and the way they made me and my family feel \u2026 it speaks volumes about what this group has in store, and I\u2019m excited to see what the future holds for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that he said \u201cthem\u201d and not \u201cus\u201d might mean nothing. Or it might be a signal that the elder Foligno brother is taking a realistic look toward his future after more than 1,000 NHL games for six different teams since he made his big league debut with Ottawa in 2007.<\/p>\n
Foligno played 17 regular-season games with the Wild, scoring a goal and adding three assists, while often teaming with Marcus and center Michael McCarron on a prototypical \u201cmuscle\u201d line that was often very effective defensively. In the playoffs, Nick suited up for all 11 games with two goals and an assist.<\/p>\n
His second NHL stop was with Columbus, where he spent parts of nine seasons and where his family still makes its home today. Foligno said that is where any decision about his future will be determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to get around my family, see my kids and just have that where it just feels like things slow down a little bit, right?,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit of a rat race and living out of a hotel. I\u2019m looking forward to having a few home-cooked meals and being with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he wanted to keep playing, just 36 hours after the abrupt end to the Wild\u2019s season, Foligno spoke about living out the dream of playing alongside his brother and the moments on the ice, on the bench and in the locker room where they would look at each other with a kind of happy disbelief that this was really happening.<\/p>\n
Unable to wear No. 17 because Marcus already was wearing it \u2014 it\u2019s the number their father Mike wore during a long NHL career, \u2014 Nick chose the reverse, No. 71.<\/p>\n
An unrestricted free agent on July 1, Nick missed more than 25 regular-season games in Chicago before joining the Wild and acknowledged that being in game shape at 38 requires more work than it did when he was younger. Before he can commit to reunion with his brother, Nick must determine how much work it will take him to survive the physical demands of another NHL season.<\/p>\n
That, too, will include conferring with his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing is your family and the commitment you have to make to (practice) your craft 100 percent, right?\u201d he said. \u201cI owe it to them. I owe it to myself. I owe it to the team I want to play for that I\u2019m all in, and I think I\u2019m lucky that I get to be still playing at this age and thinking about those things.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when I do decide to play, or wherever (that is), I\u2019m going to jump in with two feet and I\u2019m going to make sure I have that full commitment \u2014 and I\u2019m going to take some time and figure that out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foligno made $4.5 million this season and was asked if he would be willing to take a pay cut to remain in Minnesota to play with his brother and on a team be believes will be a contender in 2026-27.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d he joked, \u201cI\u2019m looking for a little less than Kirill (Kaprizov), like $16 million, and then I think we\u2019ll make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Minnesota Wild\u2019s final game of the 2025-26 season, veteran forward Nick Foligno had an offensive breakout.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[5,1336,161,38,5280,4,43,162],"class_list":["post-577390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-wild","tag-hockey","tag-marcus-foligno","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-minnesotawild","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-wild"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116591756998530080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}