Mats Zuccarello isn’t the only player getting an extension from the Wild Friday. The team announced that it has signed winger Marcus Foligno to a four-year, $16M contract extension. Michael Russo of The Athletic adds that the deal carries a full no-move clause in the first two seasons and a partial no-trade clause in the final two seasons. CapFriendly adds the breakdown of the money:
2024-25: $5M
2025-26: $4.5M
2026-27: $3.5M
2027-28: $3M
The 32-year-old has been a fixture in Minnesota’s middle six for the past six seasons after they acquired him from Buffalo back in 2017 as part of the swap that saw the Sabres re-acquire winger Jason Pominville. Along the way, he has become an important part of their leadership group and currently serves as one of their alternate captains.
The last two seasons were polar opposites for Foligno. In 2021-22, he posted career highs offensively, notching 23 goals and 19 assists in 74 games. For context, he had only had two seasons where he had more than 23 points, both coming during his time with Minnesota. However, he wasn’t able to come close to that output last year as he was held to just seven tallies along with 14 helpers in 65 contests.
The version of Foligno that put up 40 points is probably worth that contract when you factor in his physicality and ability to play on both special teams units. However, last year’s version doesn’t quite justify that cost. That makes it interesting that GM Bill Guerin opted for the early extension here before seeing if last season was a blip or a sign of things to come.
The deal represents a $900K increase on his current agreement which runs through the 2023-24 season. Those savings will come from Zuccarello’s new contract which saw his AAV dip by $1.875M. Basically, Guerin was able to get two core veterans signed while still creating a bit of extra wiggle room for next season. Earlier Friday, Guerin confirmed that extension discussions are underway with Ryan Hartman, another pending UFA as he tries to take care of his spending before the season gets underway.
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