ick Foligno wants to clarify one thing: he’s not Jonathan Toews.
The fact the Blackhawks waited more than a year after Toews left the captain role before awarding it to Foligno reduces some of the potential awkwardness, but the 35th captain in franchise history nonetheless isn’t trying to be — and shouldn’t be perceived as — a carbon copy of the 34th.
“There are no shoes to fill,” Foligno said Thursday after the first day of training camp. “That’s been done. That’ll never be touched. [Toews’] legacy will live on for a very long time. But what I’m excited about is a new era, so to speak.
“There’s an exciting group of players coming and an exciting group of players we have this season. I’m really proud to lead [them] with a handful of guys here, and I’m honored to do so. It’s about building that the way I know how. Maybe because I’m older, I’m not worried about trying to hold a candle to [Toews]. I’m confident in who I am and what I can do for this team.”
Foligno said he reached out to Toews about the captaincy, but they haven’t connected yet. Toews has somewhat resurfaced this summer, holding a few impromptu autograph-signing sessions around Chicago and attending Burning Man festival earlier this month in Nevada, but he still isn’t exactly an easy-to-reach man.
Despite never playing together, Foligno and Toews were actually NHL captain peers for quite a while when the former was leading the Blue Jackets. He now joins a small group of players (including Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and John Tavares) who have captained multiple teams.
Functionally, though, stitching the “C” onto Foligno’s sweater simply gives official recognition to something that was already true last season: he’s the obvious leader of this team.
Unlike the Ducks’ surprising move Thursday naming journeyman defenseman Radko Gudas their captain, this Hawks announcement had seemed inevitable for a while.
“If you were around the team last year, I think everyone felt it,” general manager Kyle Davidson said. “It felt very much like Nick was one of the main voices in the room. But realistically, [these discussions] started in the offseason . . . [because] we were committed to not playing with a captain last year.”
Coach Luke Richardson pointed to two specific moments last season when Foligno’s leadership made the biggest impact and most impressed him. The first was the Jan. 6 game in New Jersey in which Foligno broke his finger fighting Devils defenseman Brendan Smith after Connor Bedard broke his jaw.
The second was the April 18 finale in Los Angeles, after which Foligno passionately called for changes to be made to the roster for this season — a wish Davidson ultimately fulfilled. Some players’ engagement levels trailed off toward the end of a 59-loss slog of a season; Foligno’s never did.
“He’s always going to be a start-and-finish guy, and that’s what you want to rub off on the young guys,” Richardson said.
Added defenseman Connor Murphy: “He’s got energy every day. That’s one thing that sticks out. If we’re tired after a long trip or have a delayed flight until 4 a.m., you’re still hearing his voice.”
Foligno insisted the captain title won’t change his approach to his leadership role, recalling a learning experience after he was named Jackets captain back in 2015. He made the mistake of drawing up a concrete plan for improving the team, which was promptly thrown out when they started the season 0-8-0.
“You realize quickly, leadership isn’t about that,” Foligno said. “It’s not about mapping out. It’s [about] making connections, and understanding your team and what their 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.”