Nick Foligno didn’t need to be the obvious pick to give Minnesota its first goal of the season. That’s part of what made it stand out.
At 9:35 of the first period in Thursday night’s season opener against the Nashville Predators, Foligno buried a goal off feeds from Michael McCarron and Olli Maatta, putting the Wild on the board first. For a player who returned to Minnesota this summer, it was a useful reminder of why the team wanted him back - and why he wanted back in.
Foligno’s decision to come back was rooted in what he called “unfinished business.” After joining the Wild at last year’s trade deadline, he spent the rest of the season alongside his brother Marcus on the fourth line. Minnesota landed the former Chicago Blackhawks captain for “future considerations,” and the move was less about headline numbers than about adding another veteran voice to the room.
The production was modest. In 17 regular-season games with Minnesota, Foligno scored one goal and totaled four points.
During the Wild’s 11-game playoff run, he added two goals and three points. Still, the impact extended beyond the stat sheet, and Bill Guerin’s bet on veteran presence paid off during the postseason.
This summer, Foligno, who turns 39 on Halloween, wasn’t sure whether he’d be back. Instead, he signed a one-year, $900,000 deal and chose another year in Minnesota.
He explained the decision this way to The Athletic’s Joe Smith: “I remember when we lost [to the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs], and I felt like there was a moment of extreme sadness after the game, like a, ‘What the hell just happened?’” Foligno told The Athletic’s Joe Smith.
“I kept waiting for the moment of like, ‘I’m done. This is it.’
And it never really came…I was excited to start training camp. I was almost excited to get back at the [Avalanche] next year for knocking us out.
My thoughts were never about, ‘I’m going to sail off into the sunset.’ I was more pissed, like ‘I want another crack at them.’”
The goal also put a spotlight on Minnesota’s fourth line, which has been built to bring size, edge and experience. The Wild kept McCarron after last season’s trade deadline run, signing him to a six-year, $20 million contract, and now the line includes both Foligno brothers plus McCarron. That group was active on Thursday, helping on the penalty kill and giving John Hynes a unit he could lean on when the game needed to be slowed down.
No one should expect that line to drive the offense every night. Foligno’s opener is not a sign that a late-career scoring surge is coming. But it did show that his return has value in ways that won’t always show up in the box score, and those kinds of contributions could end up mattering for a Wild team trying to build on last season.
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Nick Foligno Returns With One Last Chance To Push The Wild Forward
Nick Foligno is back for another run with Minnesota, and his presence still carries the kind of weight that goes beyond the scoresheet. After arriving last season in a trade from Chicago, he helped steady the Wild on their way to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he enters this year with the same emphasis on leadership and the same reminder that he is here to help push a talented team toward a title.
The timing matters, because the Wild are again carrying expectations into a demanding season while navigating an early hole on the blue line. Losing Brock Faber before opening night changes the look of the defense right away, and it only sharpens the importance of veterans like Foligno setting a tone in the room. For Minnesota, the challenge is not just to contend, but to keep building on the progress it made a year ago. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Opener Comes With One Line Fans Will Want To Watch
The Wild are heading into the regular season opener with a coach who likes what he has seen in camp, both in terms of energy and how the group has absorbed the system. John Hynes spoke after practice and said the players were competitive throughout training camp, while the coaching staffs concepts have been well implemented as Minnesota gets ready to play for real.
One early lineup combination is already drawing attention, and it has a chance to be one of the more closely watched pieces of the opener. Hynes also said the club will keep an eye on ice time management as the season begins, but the line featuring Danila Yurov, Maxim Shabanov and Kirill Kaprizov has shown enough promise that it will be worth tracking right away. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Opener Puts Kaprizov And Minnesotas New Identity Under Pressure
Kirill Kaprizov enters this season facing a different kind of test, one that starts with the absence of Mats Zuccarello and extends to the way Minnesota wants to look up front. The Wild are counting on Danila Yurov and Max Shabanov to help fill that creative void alongside their star winger, and the opener offers an immediate look at how fast that new mix can settle in.
The same pressure sits in net, where Jesper Wallstedt is expected to absorb much of the workload while Filip Gustavsson recovers from hip surgery. With Nashville back on the other side after the teams split last seasons series, Minnesotas early identity check is clear: the Wild need their new pieces to stabilize quickly, because the margin for error is already thin. [Read more 🡒]