Foligno named Blackhawks captain, replaces Toews

Nick Foligno was named captain of the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old forward replaces Jonathan Toews, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Blackhawks (2010, 2013, 2015) who held the title from 2008-23. He scored in his final game with Chicago, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers at United Center on April 13, 2023; general manager Kyle Davidson announced that morning they would not re-sign the then-35-year-old.

"I've said (Toews is) a pillar that this organization stands on with what he's done," Foligno said Thursday. "I admire him, because we both got drafted the same year (2006) and to see what he was able to accomplish at such a young age (20 years, 79 days) and take on the leadership role at such a young age on an Original Six team in a market like this. It's admirable and something as a player from afar, I'd watch, and I'd learn and appreciate."

Foligno was traded to the Blackhawks on June 26, 2023, signed a one-year, $4 million contract the next day and a two-year, $9 million contract ($4.5 million average annual value) on Jan. 12. He was captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2015 until he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a three-team deal involving the San Jose Sharks on April 11, 2021.

"It's not going to change anything as far as how I'm going to go about my business," Foligno said. "The one thing I learned, probably from being captain before, I had all these ideas of how we were going to move my team forward and all these plans. That year (2015-16), which hopefully doesn't happen [again], we started out (0-8-0) and you're like, 'All right we're throwing all that out the window.' You realize quickly, leadership isn't about that. It's making connections and understanding your team and what the wants and needs are at that time and having a vision of where you're trying to go.

"We're trying to win hockey games and that's always my goal. but there's so much more that goes into that. Now we have our leadership in place, which I always felt we did. We know who the leaders are in this room and together we're going to continue on the path we started last year and the mandate we have for ourselves."

In Foligno's fourth season as captain, the Blue Jackets won a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time, a four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2019 Eastern Conference First Round. Foligno had three points (one goal, two assists) in 10 playoff games.

"To be honest, it was a little bit of a no-brainer for us," Davidson said. "I don't think anyone around the facility or around the team can really see anyone but Nick as the leader of this current Blackhawks team. Since day one, he stepped in and was the voice of the locker room and he's really taken on that role, even if he wasn't wearing the captain's ‘C' on his chest."

Foligno and defensemen Seth Jones and Connor Murphy were alternate captains last season and will continue in that role this season.

Foligno and Jones were Blue Jackets teammates for five seasons.

"Nick has always been Nick, deep down," Jones said. "When I got to Columbus, I was 21 years old, so I got a firsthand (view) of what he's talking about when the young guy comes into the team and what we were trying to build there. He's a very personable guy, always asking to go to lunch, always wanting to go to dinner with different guys on the team to establish those connections.

"He wants everyone to kind of be a tight-knit group, so that if you trust each other off the ice, you're going to trust each other on the ice. And so that's kind of the model that we went with there in Columbus, and that's something that we've always talked about here when we got here, and we want to get to get to that tight-knit group again."

Foligno played his 1,000th NHL game March 15, 2022, a 2-1 overtime win by the Boston Bruins against the Blackhawks at United Center. He and his father, Mike Foligno, joined Bobby Hull and Brett Hull as the only father-and-son duos to each have played 1,000 regular-season NHL games. His 500th NHL point was an assist on Pavel Zacha's goal at 4:03 of the first period in a 6-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at TD Garden on Oct. 15, 2022.

He was named winner of the 2017 Mark Messier Leadership Award, given to the player who leads by example through on-ice performance, motivation of team members and a dedication to community activities and charitable causes, and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, given to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.

"Everyone thinks it's the right call," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. "He's an obvious leader. I played with his father. His father was the same. They're just inbred like that. It festers around the room in a good way."

There are three teams in the NHL without a captain: the Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken and Utah Hockey Club. The Anaheim Ducks named Radko Gudas captain Thursday.

NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report