Marcus Foligno Wins 2025-26 King Clancy Trophy: A Family Legacy
The Foligno brothers just did something no other siblings in NHL history have managed. Marcus Foligno won the 2025-26 King Clancy Memorial Trophy on Tuesday, making him the second member of his family to take home the award.
His brother Nick copped it with Columbus back in 2017.
Nine years between wins.
Two different organizations. Both inspired by the same devastating loss.
What is the King Clancy Memorial Trophy?
The award goes annually to the NHL player who best demonstrates leadership qualities on and off the ice and humanitarian contributions to his community.
Named for former Toronto Maple Leafs captain and coach King Clancy, first presented in 1988. The winner chooses a charity and receives a $25,000 NHL grant for it. Simple concept. Hard to actually win.
Foligno Brothers Make NHL History with King Clancy Trophy Wins
Nobody else comes close.
The Sedin twins won it together once, in 2018.
Henrik also grabbed it solo in 2016. But they did it on the same team. The Folignos pulled it off separately, nearly a decade apart, for two other franchises. That has never happened in the award's 38-year history.
Marcus did not set out to win a community service trophy. He was grieving.
He and Nick launched the Foligno Face-Off campaign to raise money for breast cancer research. Over $200,000 flowed to the V Foundation. Their mother Janis died from the disease in 2009. That grief turned into something larger. Now it has a trophy sitting next to it.
Nine years of showing up in Minnesota
Marcus has been with the Wild for nine seasons.
Nine. That is not nothing. He has logged 931 career games across 15 NHL seasons, put up 336 points. And worn the alternate captain's "A" for most of his tenure. His teammates voted him the Wild's 2026 Tom Kurvers Humanitarian Award recipient before the organization put his name forward for King Clancy.
The selection committee includes Commissioner Gary Bettman plus former winners. This was not a rubber stamp.
That combo is genuinely unusual.
The surprise reveal at the cancer center
The presentation took place at the Masonic Cancer Center, which made complete sense given who this was really for.
Nick flew in from Chicago and hid in a back room holding the trophy.
Then he walked out for the reveal. Marcus had no idea. Anyone who has watched hockey players try to hold it together in genuinely emotional moments knows exactly what happened next. Crying. Real crying. Players, staff, medical personnel in the room.
One of the most unguarded award moments in recent NHL memory.
Nobody was performing.
The $25,000 NHL grant goes to the Janis Foligno Foundation, which keeps the campaign's reach extending well past what the Face-Off already generated.
The money keeps working. That is the part that outlives the ceremony.
Two Folignos, one team, and a trophy in their mother's name
Nick got traded to the Wild from Chicago on March 6, 2026. The brothers are now teammates at the NHL level for the first time.
The Face-Off fundraiser shifted from a rivalry event into something they run together, under the same roof, on the same squad.
Some nights in Minnesota the lineup card reads Foligno twice.
This season turned into a family reunion nobody scripted.
Two brothers. One organization. An award in their mother's name. The trophy is real. Story: real.
Should the NHL do more to celebrate the community work players quietly do all year? Drop your thoughts below.
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Who has won the King Clancy Trophy twice?
Nick Foligno won it in 2017 with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Marcus Foligno won it in 2026 with the Minnesota Wild. They are the first brothers to both receive the award in its 38-year history.
How much money has the Foligno Face-Off raised? Over $200,000 for the V Foundation for cancer research, inspired by the loss of their mother Janis Foligno to breast cancer in 2009.
NHL.com - Marcus Foligno wins 2026 King Clancy Trophy V Foundation - Foligno Face-Off campaign Hockey-Reference - King Clancy award history