Blackhawks Sign Nick Foligno to One-Year, $4M Deal

That didn’t take long. The Chicago Blackhawks signed Nick Foligno to a one-year, $4M deal just a day after acquiring him in a trade with the Boston Bruins.

Happy to have you, Nick 👋 pic.twitter.com/uyuMquC9Lu

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) June 27, 2023

In the piece looking at the contract situation in Chicago, I thought Foligno would likely sign for a little less. Instead, the gets a $200k raise in terms of a cap hit.

Regardless of where the figures fell, the Blackhawks add another veteran to the roster and continue to add players with vast NHL experience, and leadership credentials to help Connor Bedard along.

Blackhawks and Foligno Make Sense

Foligno spent six seasons as Columbus’ captain before being shipped off to Toronto at the 2021 Trade deadline. He signed a two-year deal with Boston and was actually exposed to waivers back in October before rejoining the team later. When it comes to experience in navigating different scenarios, Foligno certainly has navigated some different scenarios.

But to the Blackhawks, he’ll be another veteran voice in the locker room that Bedard can turn to as the organization ultimately looks to him as the next face of the franchise. Bringing Foligno into the fold shows the consideration being taken. No, Foligno isn’t going to be the 31 or 26-goal scorer he once was. But his numbers did move up in 2023-24 and that contribution, as well as the mentoring are what matter most to the Blackhawks next season.

Blackhawks Taking Shape

Obvoiusly, Davidson has more work to complete but he’s checked off a couple boxes adding Hall and Foligno to the mix. The forward group is all but contractually set yet Davidson will still be looking to upgrade where he can. But as written earlier, Davidson continues to clue in what his strategy will be as he builds around Connor Bedard.

Foligno adds another important presence to help that process.