The NHL Trade Deadline can be an emotional time. Players leave their franchises and friends, picking up their family to move to a new team. Even the toughest of players, such as Tom Wilson of the Capitals, can get emotional this time of year.
The Chicago Blackhawks just traded their captain, Nick Foligno, to the Minnesota Wild. Now, the Hawks have posted a tribute video honoring their former captain on X, formerly Twitter.
oh captain, our captain. thank you for leading the way for three seasons and for all you’ve given to Chicago and our organization❤️ pic.twitter.com/SNwQBOXxOr
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 6, 2026
The video opens with Hawks GM Kyle Davidson speaking.
“Nick very quickly established himself as a leader within our locker room. Earning the respect and trust of coaches and teammates from the moment he stepped foot in the organization,” the voice over of Davidson said as footage of Foligno played.
The video then moved to voice-overs from the players and staff, including Connor Bedard. Bedard has also spoken to the media about the move, per NHL.com.
“He came and kind of embraced his role with us, especially this year with how young we are,” Bedard said. “The last few years we’ve had more older guys, but this year, I mean he’s, what 15-20 years older than all of us? Yeah, just someone who meant a lot to the group and obviously I grew super close with him.”
Foligno joins Connor Murphy, Colton Dach, and Jason Dickson in being traded away from the team this week.
“Like I said yesterday, it’s tough and sad when you lose guys and it motivates you to not be in this spot when you’re dealing with that. In the span of a week you lose four guys who are super important to the room,” Bedard added. “I know myself and everyone else has close relationships with them, so it’s hard. It’s hard but it’s part of what we do.”
The video concluded with some highlights of his time in Chicago, including a shootout goal to give the Blackhawks a win.
As the trade deadline winds down, more players are expected to be moved, and more players will lose their friends to other teams.
For all of the NHL Trade Deadline reporting ahead of the Friday 3 p.m. ET deadline, stick with ClutchPoints as stories break and develop.
