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You’d think Nick Foligno and Taylor Hall might feel like they’re starting over again from scratch.
Their Boston Bruins were betting favorites heading into this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs after breaking records for wins (65) and points (135), but they were dispatched in the first round by the Florida Panthers.
Nearly a month later, both forwards were traded to the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks to make salary-cap room.
But Foligno, 35, shared a sage perspective.
“In Boston, we really believed we had a great team and we just had to weather the storm until guys came back and we went on to have a historic season,” he said Saturday during a Zoom call with Chicago reporters.
“But then you realize that we only played seven more games than Chicago did last year in the playoffs. That’s how different and fleeting the league can be sometimes.”
Hall, 31, admitted he “was caught off guard” when the Bruins traded him and Foligno to the Hawks on June 26 in exchange for defensive prospects Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula, as well as the ability to shed Hall’s $6 million cap hit.
But he settled on a similar take to Foligno’s.
“It is a bit of a change and I guess a change in expectation coming into the season,” he said, “but in saying that, you never know what an NHL year can bring for a team and you never know how quickly a team can come together and start to jell and figure things out.
“And that’s the exciting part for Nick and I. With Boston, if we were back there this year, it would’ve been a bit of a transition year. You never know what can happen — injuries, all those kinds of things. So coming to a new team, a fresh start, obviously Nick and I are excited to get more opportunity, more chance to earn ice time and a little bit of a bigger role.”
Hall played on the Bruins’ third line last season, but he’s a shoo-in to man the top line in Chicago with No. 1 pick Connor Bedard.
It’s not just about feeding off each other for goals and assists. Hall, a former No. 1 pick himself by the Edmonton Oilers in 2010, is entrusted with mentoring the Hawks’ most precious commodity in a generation.
“You can tell just watching him deal with the media and talk, he’s pretty well-mannered, he knows what to expect, he has high expectations from himself,” Hall said. “For guys like (Foligno) and I, it’s about letting him play and bringing the best out of him and trying to eliminate distractions and give him advice and mentor him along as best as possible.”
Coach Luke Richardson noted how Hall was drafted into a Canadian hockey market, which, like Chicago, came with a lot of attention and high expectations.
“So he can help (Bedard) with the off-ice part of it but also on the ice,” Richardson said. “I think his speed and just being in places where he’s been over the last few years, he’s moved around a few teams, and I think landing in Boston was probably a great spot for him to learn from guys like (Patrice) Bergeron, (David) Krejčí and those guys.”
Bedard fully embraces what Hall’s arrival means.
“Just the experiences he’s had in his career,” Bedard replied when asked what he can learn from Hall. “He was in my shoes one day with me trying to make the NHL of course. Just getting to watch him and ask him questions and feed off some of that stuff would be really good for me.”
Foligno has history with Richardson when the Hawks coach was an Ottawa Senators assistant and with defenseman Seth Jones when both played for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“A lot of talk gets done about Bedard, but (Jones is) a guy that I really enjoyed playing with in the past and admire him as a person and as a leader and the player that he is,” Foligno said. “Talking to him, he was really excited that I was trying to come to the team as well. We’ve had a lot of success together. I know how badly he wants to win and compete.
“When I saw that this was a possibility, I reached out to him right away, and I think he was looking forward to it.”
More broadly than aiding Bedard’s growth or supporting Jones, Hall and Foligno are being tasked with laying the groundwork for the Hawks locker-room culture, one they hope will one day lead to a Stanley Cup run.
Foligno said he feels “re-energized” by the opportunity “to build this from the ground up.”
Hall added: “I can say for myself, that’s really exciting. And just building something from the ground up, being a part of that, establishing a culture and having some young guys around to push you is never a bad thing either.”
Foligno — who signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Hawks the day after the trade — was open to testing the free-agent market. But after talking with general manager Kyle Davidson and Richardson, he heard what he needed to hear.
“For me, the ‘checking of the boxes’ just means what they see from my role on the team and the opportunity I can have,” he said. “I was looking to maybe move up a little bit in the lineup. Obviously that all comes down to earning it as well, so I’m a big believer in that.”
That’s part of the leadership culture the Hawks want Foligno and Hall to help establish.
“‘Leadership,’ that gets thrown around a ton,” Foligno said. “A lot of times with leadership, it’s building relationships. That’s where I think I can excel and help and have tried to do in my career.
“When you have a team that really, truly cares for one another, that is excited to come to the rink, that understands the work that needs to go into becoming better but is enjoying themselves when they’re there, those rooms usually start to set a standard and a culture.”
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Richardson said the Hawks scouting staff and front office have “done a great job of getting guys who are self-motivated.”
“They’re driven,” he said. “It’s now just getting guys around them to help guide that drive in the right direction and I think it’s going to be a good mix.”
Foligno added: “We’re trying to build to become Stanley Cup champions one day, hopefully soon. It’s exciting because you have some real generational talents coming in, some young kids, a good mix of veteran guys and guys in the middle of their careers. If you can find a way to get everyone to jell and bond and form that brotherhood, it’s amazing what you can accomplish as teams.”
There’s time for that later, however. Hall and Foligno are using the rest of the summer to recharge.
“Right now I’m at a lake house that I just moved into this summer,” Hall said. “Golfing, getting out on the lake, getting away from everything.”
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Foligno, who retreats to Sudbury in northern Ontario, calls himself a “lake dad.”
“I’ve got more watersports and things,” he said. “I’ve been running through the beach with the kids. “
Hall chimed in: “Fliggy’s biggest hobby is being a dad.”
The father of three little ones agreed: “My greatest.”
“My kids have asked me about Bedard about 1,000 times,” Foligno said. “They’re really excited to see Seth again. They were a lot younger when we last saw him.”
Hall and his wife, Rachel Rush, are expecting their first child, a boy, in October.
“Uncle Nick!” Foligno piped up.
