In a move that likely won’t surprise anyone who paid close attention to the Blackhawks last season, the team announced on Wednesday morning that Nick Foligno will serve as the team’s next captain and be the first to occupy that role following Jonathan Toews’ long stint from 2008 until the end of the 2022-23 season.
The team was informed of the news during a team address from GM Kyle Davidson, with an assist from Foligno’s children:
The additional clip below from the team’s official Twitter account offer some of the behind-the-scenes looks at why this announcement has felt inevitable from early points of Foligno’s debut season with the team last year.
Foligno, who’ll turn 37 in October, joined the Blackhawks on a one-year deal worth $4 million ahead of the 2023-24 season and signed a two-year extension worth $4.5 million annually that will keep him around through the 2025-26 season. It seems like there’s an inevitable passing of the torch — in this case, represented by the letter “C” — coming from Foligno to Connor Bedard in the next season or two, but this move confirms the leadership role that Foligno has handled for this rebuilding franchise since the day he arrived in free agency. Foligno likely won’t be around for the end of this project but he’ll certainly be one of the team’s most front-facing figures in the short-term.
Also, as Ben Pope of the Sun-Times pointed out on Twitter, Seth Jones and Connor Murphy will continue in their leadership roles for the upcoming season: