Rumor: Nick Foligno not returning to the Maple Leafs.

There is no way he could have known how it would work out at the time he made the deal, but I suspect that Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas will not look back upon his acquisition of veteran forward Nick Foligno at the 2021 National Hockey League trade deadline as one of the better moves of his career as an NHL executive.

The move already did not look great coming into this weekend with the Maple Leafs having coughed up a first round draft selection for Foligno's services in the playoffs, only to see him deal with injuries and deliver very little production in return for their investment. Now however things begin to look even worse as it would appear as though Foligno has no intention of remaining a Toronto Maple Leaf.

On Sunday St. Louis Blues insider Andy Strickland revealed that he has been hearing rumors of Foligno's intent to join another team, one with a very familiar face on the roster. According to Strickland there is a strong possibility that Foligno will be headed to the Minnesota Wild on a short term contract where he would join brother Marcus Foligno. It is certainly easy to see why Foligno would be enticed by the Wild given the fact that his brother already plays for the team and no doubt has established roots in the area, but it nonetheless will come as a major disappointment for fans of the Maple Leafs organization.

In total Foligno will have played just 7 regular season games as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, tallying no goals and 4 assists for a total of 4 points. He recorded 4 penalty minutes during those games and finished his regular season tenure with the Leafs with a plus minus rating of +5. He also made 4 playoff appearances where he recorded only a single point on an assist, and picked up 5 penalty minutes.

Not a great deal in return for a first round pick and if it does end with Foligno simply walking away as a free agent I suspect that Leafs management will be hearing about this move, for all the wrong reasons, for some time.