Nick Foligno anticipating Blackhawks' future while focusing on Wild's present

The Blackhawks are confronting the challenge of rebuilding a leadership structure with a lack of experienced leaders. Their youngsters must open their mouths and grow into those roles.

The Wild, meanwhile, are confronting the opposite challenge: How does leadership work when a locker room is absolutely stacked with experienced leaders?

Two guys who entered this season as captains elsewhere — former Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes and former Hawks forward Nick Foligno — have been acquired via trade.

They've joined longtime Wild captain Jared Spurgeon, alternate captains Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Foligno and four other veterans in their 14th-to-16th NHL seasons (Marcus Johansson, Mats Zuccarello, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jonas Brodin).

The old guard's lack of possessiveness and egoism is making it work.

"The players that have come into our team, if they have something to say, they say it," Wild coach John Hynes said Tuesday. "Our leadership structure with our players that [have been] here is open. They're receptive to information or thoughts from new guys.

"Part of being a leadership group isn't just the three guys who wear the letters. There's usually five to six to seven guys on a team, particularly on a team like ours where everyone can be a leader in their own way."

For Nick Foligno, who returned to the United Center Tuesday less than two weeks after departing it on deadline day, transitioning from captaining the Hawks to holding no official status with the Wild hasn't actually been too difficult.

The reprieve from the tough decisions and individual pressure has been nice in a way, and he still feels comfortable being himself in this new environment.

"It's a fun group to come into because they have such a veteran presence," Foligno said. "It's fun to walk into a room that knows who they are, knows what makes them great and can get there on an nightly basis."

Besides, it's not like anybody expects Foligno to be quiet just because no letter is stitched onto his green jersey. The Wild acquired him largely because of his leadership and ability to inject energy into a group, which should be valuable in the playoffs.

Hynes joked that especially whenever the two Foligno brothers are together — even though they've yet to play side-by-side on the ice as Marcus nurses a lower-body injury — it is "tough to get a conversation in" edgewise.

Foligno got dinner with many of his former Hawks teammates Monday in Chicago (Connor Bedard picked up the tab), and Foligno's wife and children will be in attendance Thursday in St. Paul for the two teams' rematch.

"It's such a rush when you get traded, especially on a game day," Foligno said. "You just get out of their way. It was nice to say goodbye, in a way, and just catch up and see how things have been."

"It's special that I get to come back here this quick and...thank [Hawks] fans and the organization for believing in me. As hard as a couple parts of the seasons were, I loved my time here. I absolutely cherished being in the leadership role."

The majority of his brain is now focused on the Wild, as it should be, and the high-stakes hockey that awaits them.

They entered Tuesday having lost four of his first five games, a slump that has probably locked them into third place in the Central Division standings and set up a daunting first-round series against the Stars or Avalanche.

But there's still a part of his brain that remains very emotionally invested in the Hawks' future, too. He will be watching closely from afar.

"I'm excited to see where it goes," he said. "I leave proud and anticipating what's to come. That was hard to say goodbye to because you almost want to be here for those moments — when they get it, when they figure it out. And they're going to."