Nick and Marcus Foligno have never played together in the NHL. One of the brothers was hoping it might happen this season. The other apparently had other ideas.
Nick, the older brother, was a free agent this summer. There was lots of speculation that he might sign with the Minnesota Wild and team up with younger brother Marcus.
That didn’t happen, though, as Nick instead signed with the Bruins. There were plenty of reasons for that, including his family’s strong connection to the city since it is where his daughter’s life was saved.
There was also a phone call from Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, who took it upon himself to try to recruit Foligno to Boston. Foligno said after he signed with Boston that phone call “meant a lot” to him and “carried a lot of weight.”
Apparently even more weight than his own brother’s recruiting efforts. Meeting with Minnesota media on Thursday, Marcus Foligno joked about his failed efforts to get Nick to the Wild.
Nick Foligno, who was a captain for six years in Columbus, brings plenty of experience to the Bruins as well as some crucial leadership that could help the team overcome the loss of David Krejci.
“I want to make sure that he’s able to tell us what he thinks,” Bergeron said of Foligno this week. “If there’s things he thinks could be better or new ideas that could be helpful, I want to hear about that. We want to hear about that as a leadership group. That’s how you get better. Make them feel comfortable, make a guy like Nick feel comfortable that he can come in and be himself and bring his leadership and that there’s room for it.”
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