When Nick Foligno joined the Ottawa Senators as a rookie for the 2007-08 season, he narrowly missed out on the team’s Stanley Cup Final appearance from a few months prior. He also missed the opportunity to play alongside defenseman Zdeno Chara, who had left the Senators in free agency the year before their Cup run.
It’s widely believed that Chara’s enthusiasm for staying with the Senators waned after the organization mistreated his friend and fellow Slovak, Marian Hossa. Hossa had signed a long-term contract with the team in good faith, only to be quickly traded to the struggling Atlanta Thrashers.
In an alternate reality, Foligno and Chara might have been longtime teammates and close friends in Ottawa. However, in this reality, for some reason, Foligno always had a desire to fight Chara.
The matchup between the two former Senators:
Chara: Standing at 6’9″ and weighing 250 pounds, he is the biggest player in NHL history.
Foligno: 6 feet tall and 210 pounds.
The difference: Nine inches, 40 pounds, and a significant reach advantage for Chara.
Foligno is undeniably tough and can hold his own in a fight. But when the moment finally came to face Chara, a sense of self-preservation took over.
“I’ve always wanted to fight Z,” Foligno shared on the Dropping the Gloves Podcast with John Scott this week. “Until the moment came where we were cross-checking in front of the net and cursing at each other. Then he gave me the ‘let’s go’ signal.”
“I don’t back down from anything, but a voice in my head told me, ‘Go to the bench, go to the bench.’ So I turned and skated away. And I thought, ‘That was your moment, you idiot!’ I couldn’t go through with it. And I think that’s why I’m still playing today. That’s why I’m alive.”
“I used to tell myself, ‘I want to fight that guy one day.’ Because I saw a few guys fight him, and I thought, ‘I just want to see how strong he is.’ Now I know. I’m good. I’m good.”
“That’s the one time I ever backed down from a fight.”
Foligno spent five seasons with the Senators before being traded straight up for Columbus defenseman Marc Methot in 2012. Since then, he has played 12 more NHL seasons and recently signed on for two more with Chicago to mentor the Blackhawks’ young stars.
Perhaps none of that would have happened if Foligno had made a different (and potentially disastrous) decision that fateful night against the big man.
