Wild 2025-26 Report Cards: Marcus Foligno

The NHL offseason is in the “dog days” of summer stage, and we’re getting down to the final report cards for the Minnesota Wild. The next forward on the list was a mainstay on the third and fourth lines, and then his brother came along, and the Wild had their own version of the “Bash Brothers” from the beloved movie “The Mighty Ducks”. By now it’s likely everyone knows the next player up is Marcus Foligno. 

He’s another fan favorite on the Wild and has been since he joined the team back in 2017. Fans affectionately refer to him as “Moose,” and he got to fulfill a dream thanks to the Wild when they brought in his brother Nick. In this article, we’ll take a look at his performance in the regular season and the postseason to come up with an overall grade. 

M. Foligno Slow Regular Season

The first stat to come to mind when talking about Marcus Foligno is not usually points, but hits. He’s known for being a big part of the team’s physicality every season and typically leads the team; that was different this season thanks to his teammate Yakov Trenin, who had an unbelievable amount of hits, but first we have to take a look at Foligno’s points. 

He’s never been a big scorer, but in the past he’s contributed at least 20 points or more per season; this past season, however, he took a bit of a hit. He had to deal with several injuries and an illness that caused him to miss a combined 26 games over the course of the season. In the 56 games he played, he scored eight goals and assisted on five others for 13 points, a 16-point drop from the season prior, but he also played 21 fewer games this past season. 

Although he faced a number of injuries that hindered his season, he was still able to use his physicality. Trenin was first in hits with 413, and Foligno was second with 180, quite a difference, but it likely would’ve been higher if he had been healthy all season. The season prior, he had 253 hits in 77 games, and that stat alone shows how much he was affected by his injuries. However, his defense was decent with 47 blocked shots in those 56 games, and that helped his grade. 

After looking over his stats and, of course, factoring in that he was hurt, and most of the time players can’t avoid injury, he earned a C+. That may seem low since he faced quite a few injuries, but he’s played fewer games in the past and registered more points than he did this season. However, it’s not lower because he still put up average-level numbers for someone facing the struggles he did. 

M. Foligno Physical Postseason 

Foligno’s postseason stats improved some but only in certain areas. His points were one of the categories that didn’t get better, but he still contributed three points in 11 games played. Not a lot of points when the Wild could’ve used them, but he did come as advertised when it came to his physicality. 

He went above and beyond when it came to that side of his game; he threw a team-leading 55 hits, which was a massive number for that amount of games. He fit the saying, “hit anything that moves” and then some. While it helped his team a bit that he was that heavy in the hitting, it also cost their team at times, especially against the Colorado Avalanche. 

His blocked shots were solid during the regular season, but just like his point totals, his blocks took a hit during the postseason. He had just five blocked shots in the postseason, and his team definitely could’ve used more blocks from Foligno and fewer hits. 

While he contributed a lot of hits, that was the only stat he improved from the regular season to the postseason. He earned a C for the postseason, and that may seem low, but the Wild needed more from him in the playoffs. It isn’t lower because he did use his physicality, but again, almost too much; however, he still made a difference with the hits. 

M. Foligno Overall Grade

Foligno earned a C+ for his regular season grade because he didn’t contribute the offense that was expected of him, but he also faced a lot of injury troubles. His physicality made up for the lack of offense, as did his blocked shots. He earned a C for the postseason, and it was slightly lower because the only stat that stood out was his hits, and they needed more than that. 

Overall, he earned a low C+/high C for his combined grade, and again, that may seem low to some, but the Wild needed more from him at times, and they didn’t get it. Although he’s not known for scoring a lot, he has proven in the past he is capable of more; while the injuries contributed, he was able to throw his body around. 

Hopefully next season he can find a way to stay healthy and produce more offense along with his promised physicality. He’ll have at least one more season to play alongside his brother, and it’ll be interesting to see how they work together for a full season.