As the Blackhawks navigate through the choppy waters after Corey Perry’s contract termination, they will lean heavily on Nick Foligno to guide the ship.
Foligno assumed that leadership role almost immediately upon arriving in Chicago this past summer and has become even more influential since the departures of Perry and Taylor Hall. When coach Luke Richardson heard the players hyped for warmups Tuesday before the victory against the Kraken, for example, he knew why.
“They put [in] a little extra effort, and I know Nick’s behind a lot of that,” Richardson said.
The wildest part is that Foligno has gone from having never played for the Hawks to being essentially their captain within just a few months.
Before this season, the 17-year NHL veteran had made 16 career appearances at the United Center, all for visiting teams. He had worn a “C” on his sweater for the majority of those games, but it was a Blue Jackets sweater.
He now wears an “A” for the home team, and there’s no question that “A” is a de facto “C.”
Even general manager Kyle Davidson, who decided the Hawks wouldn’t have a singular official captain this season, openly acknowledges that fact.
“I’m not saying anything new when [I] call him the main vocal presence on the team,” Davidson said. “You see it in behind-the-scenes videos. You see it on the ice in practice. He has been absolutely fantastic.”
The speed with which Foligno has grown comfortable in Chicago and the way he has assessed the dynamic of the locker room, earned every player’s trust and ascended into a leadership role without ruffling the feathers of any preexisting leaders have been remarkable to watch.
But it begs a question: When Foligno takes a step back and thinks about it, does this feel at all weird or surreal to him?
For anyone else, it probably would. But for Foligno, one of only a few NHL players whose people skills exceed even his hockey skills, it somehow does not.
“I am who I am, [and] that’s one thing everyone probably sees,” Foligno said. “I’m not going to change. I’ve seen a lot in my life on and off the ice, so whatever I can help with — in a lot of ways — I’m going to do.
“I care a lot about the players I play with and the organization I play for. That’s something I’ve always tried to do, and I’m hoping that has a trickle effect on every guy in here.”
Foligno said he was stunned by the Perry news Tuesday, and he managed to simultaneously express how the players will miss Perry but also respect how the organization handled this.
“It’s a hard day,” he said. “It doesn’t make it any easier because we care about Corey a ton, and we’re going to wish him well. But our job here is . . . to galvanize around this, make sure we’re holding ourselves to a high standard and understand how serious the Blackhawks are about that and the culture they want to build here. And we’re lucky to be a part of it.”
His ability to voice thoughts like that — to always say the right thing at the right time — has been proved again and again this autumn. It’s a huge asset for these stability-seeking Hawks.
And in the same interview, he also recited one other sage quote: “What screws us up the most in life is the picture in our head of how it’s supposed to be.”
Indeed, when picturing this season’s leadership, the Hawks imagined Perry being a part of it. But now he’s not, and Foligno has assumed a larger stature than expected. That’s not ideal, but it’s a reality they can navigate.
