Marcus Foligno offers Wild a mix of fists and fun

NEWARK N J A glance at the Wild roster will tell you that when backup goalie Marc-Andre Fleury retired earlier this year Jesper Wallstedt took his place in the Minnesota crease But Fleury s jokes and pranks also kept light-hearted off the ice Tough guy winger Marcus Foligno has taken that position A matter in point came on the group s latest road trip At a hotel in Dallas one night around bedtime Foligno took the time to call every member of the band on speaker with a camera recording it all to wish each of them a good night The teammates reactions varied from sincere thanks to confusion to insider knowledge that a prank must be in the works I knew something was up Wild rookie defenseman Zeev Buium revealed a limited days later after the goodnight buddy video was posted on social media I didn t know he was making a TikTok but I knew something was going on As he gets used to life in the NHL Buium was one of a large number of Wild players who acknowledged a athlete like Foligno deadly serious on the ice the class clown off it is an central part of any squad You see that with a lot of the bigger tougher guys who are so scary on the ice and then off the ice they re like a teddy bear You see that with Moose Buium commented He lights up every room he comes in and I feel very lucky to have a guy like him on my company my first year in the league I ll look back in years and say I had Marcus on my group and tell stories Family business Marcus was born into pro hockey His father Mike played more than games for a quartet of teams His older brother Nick is a mainstay with the Chicago Blackhawks And when they visited Madison Square Garden in recent weeks Foligno wore a sticker on his helmet in honor of his great uncle legendary New York Rangers goalie Eddie Giacomin who died last month I think a lot of people don t know the relationship and that my mom s uncle is Eddie Giacomin Foligno reported later Everyone talks about my dad but we ve got a lot of bloodlines on the other side too So every time I play in New York I think when I stepped in MSG for my first competition you look up you see the Giacomin banner and Uncle Eddie s been at a lot of games It s been a challenging fall for the Folignos first with Giacomni s passing then with Nick taking a leave of absence from the Blackhawks in October to be with his -year-old daughter as she battled a soundness issue Things are better now Marcus explained admitting that he and big brother are in communication daily and visit each other s homes when the Wild play in Chicago and when the Blackhawks come to Minnesota We re super close Nick s my best friend and he s my brother Marcus disclosed We talk every day we text and there s not a day that goes by that we don t talk to each other We have three kids each and they love each other cousins and it s been a special relationship for sure Taking and giving a licking In a - win by the Wild in Manhattan perhaps the biggest thing Rangers fans got to cheer that night came at the end of the second period when Foligno was leveled with an open-ice check by New York defenseman Braden Schneider snapping Foligno s stick in half More accustomed to being on the giving side of big hits Foligno bowed his head and acknowledged that in a physical contest like the NHL it s OK to receive now and then I got caught I normally don t get caught and I try to be a skilled participant in certain situations But he baited me great Foligno commented acknowledging that a video of the hit made the rounds among the players group text chain Hey I ve hit a great number of guys and it s one of those where you just tip a cap and say I wasn t injured it was all good Just laugh it off and get back out there and take another run at each other We d rather have hits like that than the other way with an elbow or something involved It s all good and don t complain When teammates get hit Foligno is usually the first one over the boards to defend them unafraid to drop the gloves when it is called for as he has done once already this season Wild fans fondly remember about this time four years ago when Foligno and Winnipeg s Brenden Dillon threw hands in a contest in St Paul and Foligno left his skates to deliver what became known as the Superman punch Fun is a good thing The fisticuffs contrasted with the off-ice humor are by design The players almost all are making multiple millions per season to play a children s battle invented to help pass the time in the winter But NHL franchises are billion-dollar businesses and the pressure to deliver is real Supplying a mental break from that pressure was Fleury s role and it s been handed down to Foligno for the - campaign It s just a long season right It s just so multiple ups and downs I ve invariably been a guy like that Foligno commented You bring in a guy like Flower and he does that stuff and it makes it fun and before you know it everyone s enjoying themselves and trying to bring a group together It s unfailingly good to keep things light It s such a stressful high end pressure event we play and when you don t get results you think the sky s falling down For the Wild after their first handful of games the sky is definitely not falling but there is work to do in terms of consistency and cohesiveness as they work to put together a much-needed winning streak On the ice Foligno offers a consistent match manning the wing on the third line and sending the constant message that you could meet his fists at any moment Off the ice there is inevitably a smile as he works to bring that cohesiveness one joke or prank at a time to a band still learning how to play together He s a leader for our crew but he does it in his own way Wild coach John Hynes explained On the ice we know the physicality and the details he plays with and what he brings to our association from an emotional standpoint But I think off the ice he s such a good leader He s got a great personality he s talkative he gets along with everybody and that s what you need He brings a lot of vitality to the band on and off the ice Related Articles Wild fortunes go south as red-hot Devils roll Under John Hynes Wild pointing North to the future All smiles and reflection for Danila Yurov after first NHL goal Wild get back in New York groove beat Rangers Wild center Marco Rossi sidelined for first time in two years