Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has had himself a busy summer.
On June 30, the day before the NHL unrestricted free agency market opened, Fletcher traded former Buffalo Sabres captain Jason Pominville and veteran defenseman Marco Scandella to Buffalo in exchange for forwards Marcus Foligno and Tyler Ennis. Fletcher also received Buffalo's third-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.
The Sabres and wild addressed immediate needs with the four player trade.
Pominville, a former 30-goal scorer, will likely start training camp alongside the Jack Eichel and Samson Reinhart duo.
Scandella adds size and skill to Phil Housley's blue line. Scandella has scored 27 goals and 89 points in 373 career NHL games, all with the Wild.
Ennis, a former 20-goal scorer, has been hampered by injuries over the past couple of seasons.
Foligno scored a career personal best 13 goals in his fourth full season with Buffalo last year.
Fletcher traded for Foligno with the knowledge that the heavyweight forward was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1. During his post-trade media phone call, Fletcher confided that he has been trying unsuccessfully for the past two seasons to trade for Foligno. Fletcher's best friend Tim Murray valued Foligno and resisted all temptation to trade him away. After Murray was fired and replaced by Jason Botterill, Fletcher was finally rewarded for his persistence and pursuit of Marcus Foligno.
So, re-signing Foligno is a matter of formality.
"I don't anticipate major problems with Marcus," Fletcher told the wild team website this week.
"We have another month to get it done and because he (Foligno) didn't file for arbitration, it certainly forced us to deal with (former RFAs) Nino (Niederreiter) and Mikael (Granlund) first because they did (file for arbitration).
Both Niederreiter and Granlund signed new multi-year contracts before they were to meet with the arbitrator. Nino is the owner of a apanking new 5-year, $26.25 million deal while Granlund has been rewarded with a 3-year, $17.25 million pact.
Now that Fletcher and his assistant general have signed, sealed and delivered Granlund and Niederreiter's contracts, Marcus Foligno is getting Fletcher's undivided attention.
"I anticipate he'll be in camp, and I don't think there will be any issues," Fletcher said. "Once you get past the first week of August, it allows you more time to focus on the other [restricted free agents]."
A deal with Foligno is the final hurdle for Fletcher and Co. to deal with this summer. After that, he said, the Wild will take a look at its remaining salary cap space, leaf through the remaining unrestricted free agents a final time to see if there is a fit, and if there is, perhaps make an offer or two.
"If we have the cap space to add a player, we'll look at it if we get a good fit," Fletcher said.
With Niederreiter and Granlund deals completed, Fletcher now has $3.8 million in salary cap slush to re-up Foligno, who earned $2.25M AAV on a one-year contract with the Sabres in 2016-17.
With his four full seasons of NHL of service and his intangibles, Foligno is looking at a three year contract in the $8.4 million to $9 million range.
"We have good depth and we have some good young players ready to make a push," Fletcher said. "We have some veteran players that we signed to two-way deals that are certainly capable of playing in the NHL."
Thanks, Wild TV
Foligno was born and raised in Buffalo, NY.
He cut his teeth in junior hockey with the Sudbury Wolves with his father and former Sabres captain, Mike, was his head coach.
Foligno achieved his boyhood dream of playing hockey for his hometown team.
The Sabres drafted Foligno in the 4th round ( #104 overall ) 2009 NHL Draft.
It was in AHL Rochester where Foligno earned his heavy-physical- in your face style that he has become famous for.
Foligno played 93 games for the Amerks. He scored 26 goals and 40 assists in his AHL career.
On Buffalo, "Moose" earned his heavyweight belt by accepting all challenges and fighting the biggest, toughest hombres in the NHL. To know Marcus is to know that he doesn't pick his spots. He isn't shy about running the NHL's best offensive players through the glass and side boards. If you have a puck on your twig and Foligno is on the ice, prepare for pain and suffering.
"Moose" has earned his 334 career PIMs by bouncing the faces of opponents off of his knuckles.
In Buffalo, Foligno played for four different head coaches in Lindy Ruff, Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, and Dan Bylsma.
Foligno had himself a nice start to his NHL career in Buffalo by scoring 49 goals and 67 helpers for 116 points in 347 games. Foligno has told me numerous times that he has more offense to give. I've never doubted Marcus. I've seen his work habits up close since he was 18 years old. He uses the summer months to develop his physique. The past few summers, he and brother have done grueling dry land and one ice workouts together in Sudbury.
This summer is no different.
Marcus uses his brother Nick (Columbus Blue Jackets) as his role model.
I've long contended that Marcus is going to be every bit the late bloomer in the NHL as his big bro Nick has been.
Nick, who will turn 30 on October 31, began his career with the Ottawa Senators. with the Sens, the eldest Foligno bro was used primarily as a third and fourth line energy guy in Ottawa.
Marcus will turn 26 this month. He score3d 13 goals and 10 points at age 25.
in the lockout shortened season of 2012-13, a then 25 year old Nick scored 6 goals and 13 assists, which extrapolates to a 37 point, 82 game season.
In his five seasons with the Sens, Nick scored 6, 17, 9, 14, and 15 goals respectively.
He scored a personal best 47 points in his final season in Ottawa when he was used more in a top six role. In his five seasons in Columbus, Nick has scored 6, 18, 31, 12 and 26 goals, respectively. In 2014-15, Nick accounted for 73 points and was named an NHL All Star. After a soft 2015-16 season, Nick finished with 51 points last season.
Foligno has scored 23 goals and 23 assists the past two seasons. He scored 13 goals last season in Buffalo, where he played a majority of his TOI with Brian Gionta and Johan Larsson on Dan Bylsma's third line. There is no doubt in my mind that Marcus can score 20 this season with the Wild. Foligno demonstrated that he is more than capable of skating with and creating plays for star players Jack Eichel and Samson Reinhart. Bruce Boudreau will play foligno in the tip six and bottom six, as well as on the PK. He's an excellent net front man on the PP.
For a 6'4" and 230 lb. man, Foligno win foot races to loose pucks and uses his brawn and brains to knock men off pucks to create turnovers which lead to increased zone time. Good luck stripping pucks off his stick once he takes possession of it. His puck protection and one-man cycle work are underrated aspects of his impressive game.
Marcus Foligno is going to be the missing link to an otherwise stacked Minnesota wild team.
The Wild haven't had a player with the passion, grit, physicality, skill and fear factor of Marcus Foligno in quite some time.