Former All-Star captain signs one-year deal with Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks have signed recently acquired forward Nick Foligno to a one-year contract worth $4M.

Foligno was acquired from Boston in the salary-cap dump deal that also sent Taylor Hall to Chicago on Monday. Foligno is coming off of a 26-point campaign with the Bruins, hitting the 10-goal mark for the first time since 2019-20.

Foligno had a career-high 31 goals and 73 points with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2014-15, leading the team in scoring that year. The native of Buffalo, New York has 525 points in 1,081 games over 16 years between Ottawa, Columbus, Toronto and Boston. The 35-year-old won the Mark Messier Leadership Award and the King Clancy Trophy in 2016-17 and was a captain at the 2015 NHL All-Star game.

The Blackhawks had just 15 players signed before Tuesday, and Foligno’s signing gets them closer to the cap floor. According to CapFriendly, the team was minus-$9.794M below the league minimum as the team enters another season of its full rebuild.

Adding Hall to the fray was a big addition for a team that’s set to select Connor Bedard with the first overall pick on Wednesday. Foligno gives the team some of a veteran presence as the club looks to its young core to do much of the heavy lifting. If Foligno can step up his game, and the Hawks are willing to retain some salary, he could be a decent trade deadline chip down the line later this year, too.

Chicago only has four roster players signed past this season: Hall ($6M until 2025), Andreas Athanasiou ($4.25M until 2025), Seth Jones ($9.5M until 2030) and Connor Murphy ($4.4M until 2026). Look for the team to make some other expensive signings this summer to stay above the cap floor.