When Nick Foligno's rights were traded to the Chicago Blackhawks and he quickly signed a one-year deal with the team, somebody else in his family might have been more hyped about the move.
"My kids have asked me about Bedard about 1,000 times," Foligno said on July 1.
Connor Bedard, of course, had been drafted days later with the No. 1 overall pick by the Blackhawks and Foligno was brought in to help mentor him in some way. It's already paying dividends, for everyone involved.
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Foligno recently invited Bedard over for dinner and had to give his kids a pep talk beforehand so they wouldn't go overboard. It may or may not have worked.
"They got it out of their system," Foligno said. "I had to give him the riot act like, 'Don't act crazy, relax, it's just a person!' I think as soon as he walked in, they just handed him a mini stick like, 'Let's go!' Poor kid, he was down on his knees the whole day. But I think he loved it more than they did probably."
Training camp just started, but Bedard has already raved about what Foligno has meant to him as a teammate, even before the two of them even got to Chicago to prepare for the 2023-24 season.
"He’s been unreal," Bedard said. "He texted me all the time throughout the summer or called me, see how I’m doing, make sure I’m working hard. He’s been great."
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Foligno said serving as a mentor for the younger players like Bedard reminded him of when he was 19 and players like Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher, and Wade Redden showed him the ropes.
"I remember going over to Alfie's house and his four kids, I think I had more in common with them than I did with Alfie at the time," Foligno said. "So it was funny to kind of go back to that and remember the feelings that I had, and how much those guys helped me. I'm really excited about just having that opportunity to pay it forward in that way."
Foligno is as impressed as everyone else about Bedard's maturity for an 18-year-old and how he handles the attention and pressure. Foligno half-joked that "there's not much more to do there" as far as helping Bedard in that department.
"He's a great kid," Foligno said. "I mean, that's first and foremost. He's well-raised and you can see he's handled the pressures of being in the spotlight now for a really young age and probably unfairly in some ways with the world we live in, but he's handled it with class and professionalism, even at a young age."
The Blackhawks saw value in bringing in a player like former No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall to play on a line with Bedard so Chicago's new face of the franchise can succeed on the ice.
Off the ice, there are few players in the NHL more well-respected than Foligno, and the Blackhawks wanted to bring him in to help create and maintain a winning culture as players like Bedard break into the NHL. So far, so good.
"I got to go over to his house, meet his family and kids and everything," Bedard said. "It was a lot of fun. He’s been so good to me and he’s made me feel so comfortable, as well as all the young guys. He’s such a good person, such a good role model. It’s great for me to have a guy like that."