After a surprising start, the Chicago Blackhawks have fallen out of the playoff conversation over the last few months. That being said, with six pending unrestricted free agents on the roster, they have the option to be a fairly active seller leading up to the trade deadline.
One of those pending unrestricted free agents is captain Nick Foligno, who’s approaching the final season of his NHL career if he isn’t already in it. According to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Blackhawks have held preliminary conversations with Foligno about his desires leading up to the deadline.
In Pope’s report, he included a quote from Foligno, saying, “When you’re in this situation where you’re not in the playoffs, there’s decisions the organization has to make, and then therefore there’s decisions you have to make. That’s something we’re going to go through the process of. It’s too early to say.”
At this stage of his career, complicated by his age and recent injuries, the Blackhawks would be doing Foligno a service by trading him to a contender. The 38-year-old winger has been limited to 34 games this season, recording two goals and 10 points while averaging 12:56 of ice time.
Despite playing in the middle-six of the Blackhawks’ forward corps the last two seasons, he’s been largely relegated to a bottom-six role this season. If he finds his way to a contending team by next Friday, he’ll undoubtedly continue in that role with his new club.
Theoretically, every playoff-bound team could use Foligno to some degree, especially if Chicago is willing to eat salary. He’s a veteran winger with the ability to play on both sides of the ice, a veteran of 1200+ games at the NHL level, and 68 postseason contests. While not a direct comparison, the Blackhawks trading Foligno would be similar to the Buffalo Sabres trading Kyle Okposo to the Florida Panthers at the 2024 trade deadline. Okposo only recorded two assists in 17 postseason games for the Panthers that spring, but he won the Stanley Cup for the first time in his 17-year career.
It’s time for uncle Nick to pack it in, And go sit on the couch.