The 2021-22 season was not kind to Nick Foligno.
Brought in by Don Sweeney and the Bruins this past July in order to inject his brand of sandpaper-style hockey into the middle-six grouping, Foligno never found his footing in Boston’s lineup, with early injuries hampering his ability to hit the ground running with his new team.
By the time he was finally logging regular shifts, the 34-year-old veteran’s lack of scoring punch necessitated a spot further down on the depth chart, with Foligno eventually settling into a spot on a fourth line next to grinders like Curtis Lazar and Tomas Nosek.
Foligno’s off-ice intangibles have been well-documented for years now. He was courted by Patrice Bergeron while fielding free-agent offers, and the former Blue Jackets captain is already respected in Boston’s room.
But for as much as Foligno’s effort and hustle were never in question whenever he hopped over the boards, it’s tough to ignore how little that translated into tangible production for the B’s.
In some respects, it appeared as though both player and organization were equally disheartened with how this past season played out.
For the Bruins, those concerns are justified. Despite accounting for a $3.8 million cap hit, Foligno was a black hole offensively for Boston — lighting the lamp twice in 64 total games.
In total, there were 389 forwards in the NHL that logged at least 500 minutes of even-strength ice time this past season. And Foligno ranked 383rd in that pool of forwards in goals scored per 60 minutes of action (0.17).
Considering his payout, that’s not nearly good enough for a fourth-line grinder — let alone a guy who was expected to add some chippiness and Grade-A scoring into the second or third line.
And for Foligno, it appears as though some of that dearth of production could also be chalked up to his lack of extended minutes further up in the lineup.
“Especially in the playoffs, I thought we had a really good playoffs as a line to create momentum and havoc,” Foligno said during the B’s break-up day. “It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the job done. But I embraced that. I always said I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do to help and help push this thing along. It was unfortunate it wasn’t a little higher up in the lineup. I take a little bit of responsibility for that. One thing about me is that I’ll come back stronger. I’m looking forward to that opportunity.”
It appears as though Sweeney might agree with such sentiment.
When it comes to potential buyout candidates, Foligno would seem to make plenty of sense on paper for the B’s.
If the Bruins are looking to clear up cap room ahead of a potentially transformative offseason, cutting ties with Foligno’s contract and the $3.8 million expected to hit their books in 2022-23 is an easy avenue to take — with Boston set to save close to $2 million next season ($1.9 million cap hit) and only carry a cap overage of $933,333 in 2023-24.
But when asked last week, Sweeney stated that the B’s weren’t considering any buyouts at this time.
“Not today I don’t," Sweeney said. "Not while I sit here today. It could change, but no.”
Of course, a lot can change between now and July 1 (when the first buyout window begins).
After this past week, Bruins fans can certainly attest to the fact that Sweeney and the B’s can chart different courses in record time. Even last offseason, Sweeney noted that the B’s were planning on issuing qualifying offers to Nick Ritchie and Ondrej Kase — only to not qualify them the following week.
Perhaps Sweeney and the B’s think that Foligno does have a bit more to give.
But unless the B’s want to keep Foligno in place because they’re ready to accept a lost season in 2022-23, the decision to shirk a buyout does seem rather puzzling.
Sure, you could make the argument that Foligno’s talents weren’t maximized in a fourth-line role where, in Bruce Cassidy’s system, the veteran was often shouldered with heaps of D-zone starts.
But it’s not like Cassidy also didn’t give Foligno plenty of rope to get rolling as well, especially when it came to planting him at the netfront on Boston’s top power-play unit for most of the first few months of the season. And even if Foligno wasn’t happy with his fourth-line deployment, you could make the case that Foligno should have had a shorter leash in that spot — especially with Anton Blidh offering strong returns in a similar role, only to spend most of the second half of the season on the ninth floor.
In addition, the merits of embracing a tank season are also amplified if you move on from Foligno, rather than keep him in place.
Aside from giving themselves some financial wiggle room and moving on from a veteran who didn’t move the needle last season, the B’s also have a number of younger forwards who could make the most of that vacant spot on the fourth line — be it Oskar Steen, Johnny Beecher, Marc McLaughlin and others.
If you’re looking to the future, might as well allow one of those green skaters to learn and develop in an entrenched role in the bottom six.
There are a lot of tough decisions on the horizon for Sweeney and the Bruins this summer. But giving Foligno an opportunity to play elsewhere should be a no-brainer, especially if this club is looking at a few lean years ahead.