Blackhawks Place Frank Nazar On IR, Activate Nick Foligno
The Chicago Blackhawks have activated captain Nick Foligno off of injured reserve. He is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday night for his first game since November 15th, per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio. To make room for Foligno’s return, the Blackhawks have moved winger Frank Nazar to injured reserve. Nazar has already missed one week, and is expected to miss three more, with a face injury caused by a Claude Giroux slapshot in Chicago’s December 20th loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Getting Foligno back will be a wave of relief for the Blackhawks. The 38-year-old winger scored six points, all assists, in 15 games before going down with injury. He also added 11 shot blocks and 41 hits – high enough marks to rank Foligno fourth in hits-per-game, and first in blocks-per-game, on Chicago’s offense despite missing the last 19 games. It will be play away from the puck that Foligno impacts most in his return, which should clear up more space for Chicago’s skill players, like Teuvo Teravainen and Nick Lardis, to focus on offense.
The Blackhawks will have to hope that;s the case, at least. They have split results in two games since Nazar’s injury and were outscored four-to-six. Nazar has been a focal piece of the offense all season long – a role that only increased when star Connor Bedard went down with an injury of his own. The second-year pro has scored 21 points in 33 games in the elevated role, good for fourth on Chicago in scoring.
That comes despite the fact that Nazar rode a six-game point drought and 21-game goal drought through November and December. He has proven to be an offensive motor that Chicago can’t easily replace. Foligno’s return will bring in more helping hands but Chicago will still face a tough test with games against the New York Islanders, Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals, and Vegas Golden Knights in their near future.
Blackhawks Place Nick Foligno On IR With Hand Injury
10/17: The Blackhawks have placed Foligno on injured reserve after learning he’ll miss four weeks of action. Chicago has iced 11 forwards and seven defenseman – bringing Louis Crevier into the lineup – in Foligno’s absence. They’ll face one of three options now that their captain is on IR – stick with seven defenders every night; recall a forward like Toninato; or wait for Dickinson, who said he won’t return until he’s back to a full 100% per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.
10/16: The Chicago Blackhawks will be without captain Nick Foligno for the next month, head coach Jeff Blashill told Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Sports. Foligno sustained a hand injury after blocking a shot in Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He left the game with a few minutes left in the second period and did not return.
On top of the moral weight of losing their captain, Chicago will lose yet another forward in their middle-six with this news. The team is already without Jason Dickinson and Tyler Bertuzzi, who are both carrying day-to-day designations. Now, Foligno will fall out of the lineup as well, leaving a major hole on the wing. Foligno has filled any role Chicago has needed over the course of the season. He had two points, one fight, and a plus-three in his last five games entering Saturday’s matchup. Those marks brought him up to six points, all assists, in 15 games on the year – to go with 16 penalty minutes, 11 blocked shots, and 41 hits.
Chicago has rotated Foligno between the wing and center based on need. With no extra forwards on the roster, the Blackhawks will need to make a call-up to fill Foligno’s shoes. Unfortunately, the team is also without top call-up option Nick Lardis, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury per the Rockford IceHogs. Lardis leads all AHL rookies in scoring with 14 points in 15 games. He could quickly receive his first NHL call-up once he’s back to full health. Until then, Chicago will likely turn towards Dominic Toninato, who has nine points in 15 games for Rockford.
Central Notes: Hague, Duchene, Foligno
The Nashville Predators were dealt a blow in the preseason when defenseman Nicolas Hague suffered an upper-body injury, but the team has adapted well to his absence. The club is off to a solid 2-2-2 start, a notable improvement from where they began last year, and now they’re set to get Hague back from his injury. The Tennessean’s Alex Daugherty noted today that it’s been four weeks since Hague was originally ruled out and prescribed a four-to-six week recovery timeline, and he added that one shouldn’t be surprised if Hague returns to the lineup at some point this week. Later in the day, Daugherty reported that Hague was on the ice for the Predators’ practice, further underscoring the likelihood that his return is coming sooner rather than later.
Hague was first seen back on the ice on Oct. 11, per team reporter Brooks Bratten, for an optional morning skate. He was originally injured during the team’s second preseason game against the Florida Panthers. At that time, Hague was paired with team captain Roman Josi on the club’s first pairing. Josi was paired with Adam Wilsby during the team’s most recent game, and Hague could end up claiming that spot back from Wilsby when he’s ready to make his Nashville debut. The 6’6 blueliner has played in 364 career NHL games and won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023. Nashville acquired him (and a conditional 2027 third-round draft choice) in June, sending Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon to Vegas in return.
Other notes from the Central Division:
- Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene missed the team’s practice today, reports the Dallas Morning News’ Lia Assimakopoulos. Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan expressed confidence that Duchene would be able to play tomorrow when the Stars host Duchene’s former team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, but added that Duchene has been battling an upper-body injury suffered last week. Duchene is one of the Stars’ key offensive producers; he led them in scoring last season with 82 points in 82 games.
- Chicago Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno returned to practice today after stepping away to tend to a personal matter, reports NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis. Foligno’s leadership has helped the Blackhawks to a surprisingly strong start to their season. The team, which was projected by many media outlets to be among the NHL’s worst for 2025-26, has gone 3-2-2 to start the season, good for 13th in league standings. Foligno has been a core veteran for the club since arriving in 2023, scoring at least 15 goals and 35 points in each of his two seasons there.
Short-Term Absences: Raymond, Foligno, Samuelsson
At least for now, the Red Wings are exhaling that the news isn’t worse regarding the health of star winger Lucas Raymond. He won’t play tonight but is only considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, the team announced. Raymond left Monday’s win over the Maple Leafs midway through the second period after taking a cross-check into the boards from Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev (video via B/R Open Ice). There was initial fear and speculation that he may have sustained something as serious as a collarbone fracture, but he was back on the ice for morning skate today, according to the team’s Daniella Bruce. He might not even miss a full week, considering there’s been no injured reserve placement. Through two and a half appearances, Raymond had scored twice and added an assist with a +3 rating in what’s otherwise been an iffy start at even strength for Detroit’s top line of him, Dylan Larkin, and rookie Emmitt Finnie.
More short-term absences of note from around the league:
- The Blackhawks announced that captain Nick Foligno will be taking a “brief” leave of absence and will miss tonight’s game against the Blues. He’s stepping away to be with his family as his daughter undergoes a follow-up surgery related to her congenital heart disease. All of us at PHR send our best wishes to the Foligno family. You can visit their foundation for heart health, The Heart’s Playbook, at this link.
- Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson has been ruled out for tonight’s game against the Senators, according to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550. His absence shouldn’t last much longer, though. He skated on his own today and could be an option to play this weekend, head coach Lindy Ruff said. Samuelsson remains on the active roster after departing last weekend’s loss to the Bruins early. He’s only missed one game so far.
West Notes: Räty, Foligno, Faksa, Gustavsson
The Vancouver Canucks announced today that they’ve assigned forward Aatu Räty to the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League. The 22-year-old was recalled on Saturday before the Canucks game against the Bruins but didn’t end up dressing and served as a healthy scratch.
The former second-round pick has spent considerable time in the NHL this season, dressing in 20 games and picking up two goals and two assists. His AHL campaign has been limited, playing just eight games with Abbotsford, but Räty has been very productive posting four goals and three assists.
In other Western Conference notes:
- Chicago Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno was sick today and didn’t dress today in Chicago’s 5-3 win over the New York Islanders (as per Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Sports). The 37-year-old had points in each of his previous two games and is having a decent offensive season with seven goals and six assists in 30 games. He was replaced today by Joey Anderson who went scoreless in 13:27 of ice time.
- Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic tweeted that St. Louis Blues forward Radek Faksa missed his third consecutive game tonight due to a cut on his leg. The 30-year-old suffered the injury in a game against Vancouver and is making progress towards a return. Veteran Brandon Saad replaced Faksa in the lineup. Faksa is in his first season with the Blues after spending the first nine years of his NHL career with the Dallas Stars.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic writes that Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson is dealing with some soreness in his lower body and was getting looked at today. The ailment is reportedly nothing major, but it was enough to prompt the Wild to take a longer look at the issue. The 26-year-old is having a terrific bounce-back season with a 14-5-3 record along with a. 2.24 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Gustavsson took warmups last night and did serve as the backup, but the issue prompted the team to act today as well as call up top prospect Jesper Wallstedt.
Blackhawks Name Nick Foligno Captain
Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno will be the team’s next captain, per a team press release. He’s the 35th in franchise history and the first since Jonathan Toews‘ tenure in Chicago ended after the 2022-23 season.
Foligno is entering his second season with the Hawks after inking a two-year, $9MM extension last January to keep him off this summer’s free-agent market. The 36-year-old winger also served as captain of the Blue Jackets for the last six of his nine seasons in Columbus from 2015 to 2021. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson issued the following statement:
In a very short amount of time, Nick has quickly earned the respect of his teammates and our staff. Nick’s commanding presence in the locker room has been instrumental in helping the team find its identity. He has served as a mentor to many of our young players both on and off the ice while also heading up the leadership group comprised of our veteran players, and we are beyond confident that he will flourish in the role of captain as we usher in a new era of Blackhawks hockey.
The Buffalo native was already part of Chicago’s leadership group, serving as an alternate captain last season. Set to be a UFA last offseason after signing a two-year deal with the Bruins in 2021, Boston traded his signing rights to the Blackhawks in the Taylor Hall deal. Chicago promptly signed Foligno to a one-year, $4MM extension, preventing him from joining the 2023 UFA class.
While his frequent first-line duties on a paper-thin Blackhawks forward group last year punched above his weight as he enters the final few years of his NHL career, Foligno is still an extremely serviceable middle-six forward. He made 74 appearances for Chicago last season, his most since 2018-19, and recorded 37 points (17 G, 20 A) with a -29 rating while averaging 17:46 per game. It was his best showing offensively since his days in Columbus, finishing third on the team in scoring and leading them in hits with 192.
Foligno won’t be relied upon for nearly as many minutes this season with UFA signings Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen in the mix at wing. Hall playing a full-time role after a knee injury limited him to 10 appearances last year likely bumps the new captain down to comfortable third-line duties.
The move allows presumptive future captain Connor Bedard to take a more leisurely road to the position. The Blackhawks are no stranger to awarding the captaincy to budding stars – Toews wore the ‘C’ on his chest from his second NHL season onward – but will take a different approach here. The 2023 first-overall pick will nonetheless remain Chicago’s centerpiece entering his sophomore year after his 22-goal, 61-point rookie season in 68 games, leading the Hawks in scoring and taking home the Calder Trophy.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Poll: Who Will Be The NHL’s Next Captain?
August is finally here, marking the time of year when teams reconvene at their home rink and begin hardy planning for the upcoming season. That step will come with extra work for the six teams around the league who don’t currently have a captain.
Many of these teams, including Seattle, Anaheim, and Utah, have gone years without a captain – instead opting to disseminate responsibilities among multiple assistant captains. All three teams are amidst staunch rebuilds – with Utah even mapping out relocation – and are likely waiting for their top prospects to take a few more steps before earning the role. The trio of Matthew Beniers, Leo Carlsson, and Logan Cooley seem prime for that ascension with their respective teams, though they each have multiple challengers lining up behind them. The Buffalo Sabres are in a similar grouping, as they transition from a veteran-laden lineup to one of the league’s youngest rosters.
The Chicago Blackhawks also fall into the aforementioned discussion – not carrying a captain since legendary centerman Jonathan Toews ended his career in 2022. Toews leaves massive shoes as Chicago’s leader, after co-heading three Stanley Cup wins alongside winger Patrick Kane. Naming a successor will formally carry Chicago into a new era – one without many of the faces that came to define Chicago hockey in the 2010s. Teenage phenom Connor Bedard seems like a great option to lead that transition, after netting 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games last season – the most of any rookie Blackhawk since Artemi Panarin in 2016, and Kane before him. But Bedard is still young and was limited to a partial season last year by a jaw injury. Those factors could hold him back from Chicago’s prestigious ‘C’. If that is the case, it doesn’t seem any of the team’s veteran leaders, including Nick Foligno and Seth Jones, would inspire Chicago to name a captain too early.
And while Chicago’s next captain will lead the team through new scenery, it’s the Tampa Bay vacancy that headlines the off-season. The Lightning now sit without a captain for the first time since 2002, after franchise icon Steven Stamkos chose to sign with the Nashville Predators in his first trip to unrestricted free agency. Stamkos wore the ‘C’ for the last 10 years and established himself as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer in that span, leading Tampa Bay to two Stanley Cups and setting the franchise’s all-time records in both goals and points scored. Like in Chicago, the Lightning will be entering a new era with their next captain – though they’re much more prepared for the vacancy than their counterparts. While forwards Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point could both serve as strong replacements, it’s defenseman Victor Hedman that offers the same rugged veteran leadership brought by Stamkos. Hedman recently signed a four-year extension in Tampa, taking him through his age-37 season and, potentially, the end of his career. He’s already appeared in 1,052 games with Tampa Bay – the most of any Lightning other than Stamkos – and holds the franchise records in all three scoring stats, among defenders. Transitioning from Stamkos to Hedman should prove more of a light handoff than a total change in power, which could be enough to sway a Lightning franchise that hasn’t gone longer than one year without a captain since naming Paul Ysebaert as their inaugural ‘C’.
Mapping out when captain announcements will come is often a fool’s bet, but the candidates to earn the NHL’s next ‘C’ seem to be becoming clearer. Who will it be? Will Tampa jump to another veteran, will Chicago move into their next step, or will an oft-captain-less team commit to their young guard? Let us know by voting in the poll below and discussing in the comments.
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West Notes: Coachella Valley, Bertuzzi, Levshunov
The Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL have announced their second head coach in franchise history by hiring Derek Laxdal. Laxdal will have some big shoes to fill as the new head coach of the Seattle Kraken, Dan Bylsma, coached the team to back-to-back Western Conference Finals championships.
Laxdal brings considerable experience in coaching and winning to the young AHL franchise. The veteran coach spent five years as head coach of the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL from 2005-2010 and earned a winning record each year in addition to winning the Kelly Cup in 2007 and as runner-up in 2010. Laxdal parlayed this success in Idaho to Edmonton where he would coach the Wheat Kings of the WHL for the next four years.
Getting his first nod to join an NHL organization, Laxdal was hired as the head coach of the Texas Stars in 2014, the AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars. The AHL Stars missed the playoffs twice during Laxdal’s five-and-a-half-year tenure behind the bench but also managed to finish as runner-ups to the Toronto Marlies in the 2018 Calder Cup Finals. Laxdal was promoted to assistant coach in Dallas until 2022 and has spent the last two years serving as head coach and assistant general manager of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals.
Other West Notes:
- Although Tyler Bertuzzi would ultimately sign a four-year, $22MM contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, he did not enter the summer believing they were interested. His first contact from the organization came from veteran Nick Foligno, who alerted Bertuzzi to Chicago’s interest, according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Foligno and Bertuzzi have briefly played with each other during the 2022-23 season as both were rostered on the regular season champion Boston Bruins.
- Staying in Chicago, the team has yet to decide on the future of recent second-overall pick, Artyom Levshunov. Scott Powers of The Athletic reports the general manager of the Blackhawks, Kyle Davidson, says he believes there are benefits to Levshunov signing with the organization and continuing his development in Rockford, or staying another year at Michigan State University. There are arguments on both sides of the debate but Levshunov has little else to prove at the NCAA level as he became one of the most dominant defensemen in the country as a freshman.
Nick Foligno Activated, Connor Murphy Placed On IR
The Chicago Blackhawks have activated forward Nick Foligno off the injured reserve, and it is expected that he will dress tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. The 36-year-old is just a week removed from signing a two-year $9MM extension with the Blackhawks and has been out of action since January 5th when he stood up for Connor Bedard and fought Brandon Smith after he had hit Bedard and fractured his jaw.
Foligno is in his first season in Chicago after coming over in a trade last summer from the Boston Bruins. He has had an uneven offensive season with five multi-point games sandwiched between four stretches of four or more games without a point. Foligno is likely to find himself in Chicago’s top 6 as the team continues to deal with quite a few injury issues to their forward group. Foligno likely won’t duplicate some of his better offensive years from his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but he remains a respected leader and a dependable forward for Chicago.
With the move to activate Foligno, the Blackhawks also placed defenseman Connor Murphy on the injured reserve retroactive to January 16th. Murphy is currently sidelined with a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for the past four games. The 30-year-old will be eligible to return to the lineup when he is healthy enough to do so and is expected to be back at some point during Chicago’s current four-game road trip. Murphy has dressed in 43 games this season and has two goals and six assists while sporting a -19.
Injury Notes: Blackhawks, Red Wings, Engvall
The Chicago Blackhawks saw a string of players progress in their injury recovery, with Nick Foligno (fractured finger) and Ryan Donato (illness) fully returning to the team’s practice on Sunday, while Connor Bedard (jaw), Samuel Savoie (leg), and Tyler Johnson (undisclosed) were all on the ice for varying times before the team skate started. Connor Murphy was not able to take part in the team’s skate, though, continuing to miss time with a lower-body injury.
Donato has missed the Hawks’ last two games with an illness, while Foligno has sat out of seven games thanks to a placement on injured reserve earlier in the month. Both players are trending towards a return, finally bringing some form of relief to a Chicago lineup that’s currently experiencing injuries to 10 different players. Foligno went down on the same night that star rookie Bedard was injured. Both players falling out of the lineup effectively fractured Chicago’s top six, with the team going 3-4-0 – including one overtime and one shootout win – and scoring just 13 goals since the pair got hurt. That averages out to 1.85 goals-per-game – a mark that’s significantly held up by the two four-goal outings Chicago has had since Bedard’s injury.
Other notes from around the league:
- Ville Husso (lower-body) is continuing to progress in the Detroit Red Wings practices, while the team continues to be without Patrick Kane (lower-body) and Ben Chiarot (upper-body). Husso was placed on injured reserve in mid-December, missing Detroit’s last 14 games. James Reimer has slotted into the lineup as a result, backing up de facto starter Alex Lyon. Lyon has managed a .922 save percentage across 16 games, while Reimer has recorded an .893 save percentage in 13 appearances.
- Pierre Engvall has returned to the New York Islanders practice in a non-contact jersey after missing the team’s last two games with an upper-body injury. Engvall has managed 14 points in the 41 games he has appeared in, though he’s only scored one point since December 9th. Engvall is in his first full season with the Islanders, joining the team through trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.