Green biscuits and a ham: Marcus Foligno proves to be a valuable leader for Wild

Marcus Foligno's offseason regimen included the usual tools of the trade: ice, a net, his hockey stick.

And he had Green Biscuits.

"They're unbelievable," Marcus Foligno said.

As much as this sounds like a Dr. Seuss-inspired nutrition plan, it isn't.

Green Biscuits are plastic pucks that have a similar weight to normal rubber pucks, but they can slide on off-ice surfaces. Foligno found them on Amazon and used them on a Sport Court during his summer training, aiming at a "goalie" that was really a sawhorse draped in vintage hockey equipment. He and his brother Nick, who plays for the Boston Bruins, devised the setup.

"It's actually hilarious," Foligno said.

The purpose, however, is serious business.

Shooting the puck more often is on the veteran forward's radar as he returns for the Wild, and it's a worthwhile ambition. Last season, Foligno converted on more than 25% of the shots he took — an eye-popping efficiency that was better than the NHL's top scorers.

Overall, Foligno's play was at its best in his four years with the team and that's the standard he's trying to sustain as he begins a new contract with the added title of alternate captain.

"I know my role," Foligno said. "I know the way to play this game in order to see it statistically with points and everything. But I feel like I'm going to get my chances and it's just up to me to bury them.

"I would like to surpass the amount of points I had last year, but I think the end goal is just to win."

He shoots, he scores

Foligno didn't score even half as many goals last season as NHL leader Auston Matthews did.

He also wasn't close to reigning MVP Connor McDavid's output and fell way shy of Kirill Kaprizov's 27 goals, which was tops on the Wild.

But the 30-year-old was better than all three when it came to shot effectiveness.

"When I shot, I scored," Foligno said with a laugh.

Among players with at least 40 shots last season, which is what Foligno finished with, the winger ranked first in the NHL after capitalizing 11 times for a 27.5 shooting percentage.

Add in 15 assists and the 6-3, 228-pound Foligno totaled a career-high 26 points in just 39 games for a team-best 2.74 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

"Some goalies, they're not sure if he's going to come barreling in and try to take you wide," said Ryan Hartman, who is centering Foligno and Jordan Greenway after Joel Eriksson Ek was in that spot last season. "The goalie's kind of got to brace for that, and then all of a sudden he gets a quick shot off and maybe they're not expecting it. When there's that much speed and size coming at you, you might maybe tense up a little bit. I would, for sure, if I was in the net."

To be fair, Foligno's shot total is a small sample size; Matthews racked up 41 goals off a league-high 222 shots, McDavid's 33 goals came off 200 shots and Kaprizov had 157. More windups usually mean more misses, but Foligno does want to increase his attempts.

"I do have a good shot," he said. "I think it's accurate when I do get it off. I feel like when I did get in a spot and I had the puck on my stick, I was really confident and last season it went in a lot of times when I did shoot it. It just goes to show you that if I do get one or two or three shots a game, it's usually going to result in maybe one goal that game."

And Foligno could have more opportunity to deploy that shot.

Already in training camp he has appeared on the power play and was on the ice for two goals with the man advantage in his preseason debut Thursday in the 6-4 loss at Colorado, assisting on one.

"His hands, his willingness to get to the net, is something that's going to help us offensively," coach Dean Evason said.

On the defensive

What helps put that offense in motion is Foligno's performance at the opposite end of the rink.

The scoring chances he helps generate stem from interrupting the other team's goal scorers — by blocking a shot, being in the right position to defend or finishing his check to make a player think twice about dipsy-doodling next time. Foligno was actually one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL last season, ranking among league leaders in expected goals against per 60 minutes (1.5) and high-danger chances against (44) at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick and Evolving-Hockey; he also was one of the Wild's go-to penalty killers and dished out the most hits on the team (109).

He developed this knack for suppressing shots while breaking into the NHL with Buffalo after going head-to-head with the opposition's top players.

"I like anticipating and reading the plays and intercepting pucks," Foligno explained. "I find it becomes agitating to star forwards."

Follow up that pressure with a handoff to his linemate for a smooth breakout and then a burly forecheck, and eventually Foligno and Co. weren't defending the other team's best players as much; the other team's best players were defending them.

"There's a lot of games where we kind of looked at each other and we were like, 'We didn't really play a lot of defense,' " Foligno said. " 'We didn't get trapped in our zone yet.' Guys didn't like playing against us last year, and that's the recipe we want this year."

Sticking with it

Before he can even take a shot, though, Foligno has to have the puck, and that's a part of his game he improved last season.

The lefty felt he kept pucks alive and was stronger in the corner, and it was his stick work that helped him maintain possession. Foligno noticed teammates such as Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello psyching out defensemen by faking a shot or pass, and Foligno brought that creativity to his game. He also looked for finesse passes and opportunities to send the puck to a defenseman instead of going for a rim around the boards that could end up on the opponent's blade.

"We had a lot of heads-up plays and a lot of tape-to-tape passes that made our O-zone time go a little longer," Foligno said.

Still, there was an agenda during his offseason retreat to Sudbury, Ont.

With the Green Biscuits, the emphasis was to get shots off quicker. When he trained on the ice, Foligno worked on shooting off the rush and unleashing pucks through screens and traffic.

These reps, however, aren't all Foligno will bring into the season.

He also has more confidence after he and Matt Dumba were designated alternate captains, stepping in for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter after their buyouts.

But Foligno isn't all about Foligno.

That's why the Wild gave him that leadership position and signed him to a three-year, $9.3 million contract extension last January.

"If the work ethic is always there, then I think I'm going to get results," Foligno said. "If not, then hopefully the results are just wins. For me, that's all I care about."