Chicago Blackhawks sign Nick Foligno to two-year contract with $4.5 million AAV

Foligno, 36, is currently on a one-year, $4 million contract, and was set to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason before re-signing with the Blackhawks. He originally signed that deal in the 2023 offseason after Chicago had acquired his signing rights in a trade with the Boston Bruins that also sent Taylor Hall to the Blackhawks in exchange for Ian Mitchell and Alex Regula.

Foligno’s new contract will kick in at the start of the 2024-25 season, and has no signing or performance bonuses that are confirmed at the moment. It currently has a cap percentage of 5.39%, and his $4.5 million salary is comparable to Michael Bunting, Brandon Saad, Artturi Lehkonen, Mason Marchment, Mikael Backlund, and Ryan O’Reilly, with the latter two indicating a trend along with Foligno that this is the salary given to veterans who still bring some value.

Foligno has been having one of his more productive seasons in recent years, with 8 goals and 9 assists for 17 points in 39 games, largely benefitting from playing alongside Bedard a decent amount. That would put him on pace for 35 points in a full 82-game season, a total that he hasn’t hit since the 2018-19 season.

Even as he’s gotten older, Foligno continues to be one of the best defensive forwards in the league. His 9.1 defensive goals above replacement is tied with Alex Iafallo for 23rd in the league among forwards since the 2020-21 season.

Foligno was originally the 28th-overall selection for the Ottawa Senators in the 2006 NHL Draft, and spent five seasons in the Sens organization before he was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Marc Methot in 2012. He then spent parts of nine seasons in Columbus, including six as the team’s captain, before he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2021 trade deadline. He then signed with the Boston Bruins for two seasons that offseason before his negotiating rights were traded to the Blackhawks at the end of that contract in the 2023 offseason, where he then signed his current one-year, $4 million contract.

Foligno is the first of many free agents that the Blackhawks need to re-sign, as they currently have 10 unrestricted free agents and nine restricted free agents on the roster, although that’s including all the players called up due to their injuries. They’re currently projected to have just under $48 million in cap space to get that done, so that should be more than feasible, especially when some of those players may end up getting shopped at the trade deadline.