It’s no secret that last season was not good for Marcus Foligno. Neither was the one before that. As it turns out, in both seasons he was dealing with an abdominal injury and had to have surgery in the off-season, first on one side and then the other. After two shortened seasons where Foligno was battling through injury, this is the season where he needs to show that he’s back.
Last Season
Foligno only played 55 games last season and it was obvious to almost everyone that he played a good chunk of those games injured. He only had 22 points last season, 10 goals and 12 assists. While he still maintained an average of 3.22 hits per game, the eye test showed something a little different. While Foligno was trying to keep up with his physical presence on the ice, it was obvious that he wasn’t as gritty as normal.
Strengths
As mentioned above, Foligno’s greatest asset is his physical size. He’s usually on top of the Wild list for hits and penalty minutes. And he’s known as one of the tough guys of the league, a fighter who sticks to the code. That’s why it’s so tough when Foligno is injured. All of his other skills fall behind his physicality. When he isn’t able to patrol the ice like he normally does, it’s hard for him to get much else done as well.
Foligno is also a good presence to have on the ice for penalty kills. In a way, his spot on the top penalty kill unit is atoning for the overabundance of penalties that he otherwise takes.
Weaknesses
His tough-guy personality tends to toe the line, so his hothead often gets him into trouble. As evidenced in the 2023 playoff series against the Dallas Stars, his inability to keep his temper under wraps can cause problems that ripple out and affect the entire team. (Of course, this was coupled with some sub-par calls from the on-ice officials. But Foligno’s temper did not help the situation.)
Next Season
Foligno has a lot of ground to make up this coming season, especially with some fans who have lost faith in him. The 2021-22 season was a career-high for Foligno, who scored 42 points that year (a career-high 23 goals and also a career-high 19 assists). The biggest problem with that season is that 42 points was incredibly out of character for Foligno. His average points per season is around 22. The 2021-22 season was a product of GREEF line magic (along with Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway). Fans need to have realistic expectations about Foligno’s point production. Somewhere between 20-25 points is a good target.
One area where he can be held more accountable is, once again, his physical presence. Now that he’s had both sides of his abdominal muscles fixed and a long offseason to recover, he should be coming into training camp in good physical shape. The Wild have traded away or not re-signed some of their other physical forces, so Foligno will need to stay healthy in order to fully play his on-ice style.
For more Minnesota Wild news and vibe checks, listen to Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast.
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