Nick Foligno

BIOGRAPHY

Nick Foligno was born on October 31st, 1987 in Buffalo, New York. He is a left wing in the National Hockey League.

Foligno was selected in the first round, 28th overall by the Ottawa Senators during the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Foligno was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets six years later, and eventually was named the team's captain for six seasons. His father, Mike Foligno, is a veteran of over 1000 career NHL games. As a youth, Foligno played in the 2000 and 2001 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a minor ice hockey team from Hershey, Pennsylvania. On March 21, 2007, the Senators announced that the team and Foligno agreed to a three-year, entry level contract. He spent some time with the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL) during the 2007–08 season, appearing in 28 games, scoring six goals and 19 points. Foligno spent most of the 2007–08 with the Ottawa Senators. He began the season with Ottawa and played in his first game on October 3, 2007. Foligno scored his first career NHL goal and point on October 18, 2007, as he beat Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens in a 4–3 Senators win. When he scored the goal, he performed his father Mike Foligno's noted goal celebration, the "Foligno Leap". Foligno finished the season appearing in 45 games with Ottawa, scoring six goals and nine points. He appeared in his first Stanley Cup playoff game on April 9, 2008. On April 14, 2008, he scored his first career playoff goal. Foligno spent the entire 2008–09 season in the NHL with the Senators, scoring 17 goals and 32 points in 81 games. 

On July 1, 2012, Foligno was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Five days after acquiring him, Columbus signed Foligno to a three-year contract worth a reported $9.15 million; Foligno had been a restricted free agent. In 2015, Foligno was selected by the NHL general managers to represent Columbus at the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. On April 4, 2015, Foligno scored his first career NHL hat-trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins. On May 20, shortly after the end of the 2014–15 season, Foligno was named captain of the Blue Jackets. On February 7, 2021, in a regular season game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Foligno scored his 200th career goal. 

On April 11, 2021, one day before the NHL trade deadline and in the final year of his contract with a Blue Jackets team expected to miss the postseason, Foligno was involved in a three-team trade to eventually end up with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Although there was mutual interest between Foligno and the Maple Leafs in signing a new contract, on July 28, 2021, Foligno signed as a free agent to a two-year, $7.6 million contract with the Boston Bruins. On April 2nd, 2022, Nick played in his 1,000th NHL game, a Bruins 5-2 home victory over his former team Columbus. Foligno was placed on waivers by the Bruins on October 9, 2022, but was brought back to the team for the 2022-23 season after going unclaimed.