In an engaging article from Joe Smith at The Athletic, Smith performed a deep dive on the injury-plagued seasons of Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno over the past few years. Foligno’s injuries, largely in his core abdominal muscles, began negatively impacting his life off the ice, leading to doubt concerning his playing career.
As Smith points out in the article, Foligno’s play style has a part to play. He’s been an aggressive forechecker for his entire career, amassing 2,614 hits (2.98 hits/game) in 875 regular-season contests. That aggression only increases in the postseason, where Foligno has delivered 154 hits (5.31 hits/game) in 29 playoff appearances.
Unfortunately, as Foligno puts it in the article, his tenacity on the ice caught up to him off the ice. Smith quoted Foligno saying, “There were some dark days going through that stuff and thinking about the future and thinking about, how are you going to manage through this injury? You’re thinking about it: ‘Will this (surgery) really solve all my problems?’ You’re really banking on coming out of it. There’s always a bit of gray area, little bit of fogginess where it comes to like, ‘Am I going to be the player I once was before these injuries started piling up?’”
Now that his surgery is in the rearview mirror, we know how the surgery turned out for Foligno. The 14-year veteran appeared in 70 or more games for the first time since the 2021-22 season, scoring 14 goals and 29 points. Meanwhile, he set a career-high in hits with 253, placing him in the league’s top 10.
Other notes from the Central Division:
- After splitting the first two games in Dallas, the Stars and Avalanche are headed north for Game 3 and Game 4 of their opening-round matchup. According to Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports, defenseman Miro Heiskanen will travel with the team while forward Jason Robertson will not. Given that he’s already returned to skating, there’s a strong chance that the Stars will welcome Heiskanen back at some point in Colorado. Meanwhile, Robertson’s recovery is only a few days into a week-to-week prognosis, meaning there’s very little chance of him returning during Round One.
- Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators, is getting a major makeover (Article Link). The arena announced a $1B renovation set to take place over the next 15 to 20 years that “aims to increase seating capacity, introduce new seating options, and create various fan communal areas.” The project will begin after the 2026-27 NHL season and will start with replacing the outer concrete of the building with glass walls facing Broadway.