"The standards every year, we're bringing it higher and higher. You get into playoffs and it doesn't go your way and you're out in the First Round," Spurgeon said. "There's definitely learning things from this that we can go through just from, it doesn't matter what you do in the regular season, how good your regular season is, that once you get to playoffs, if you're not performing and you're out, obviously that's where the feelings are raw right now. It's just disappointment.
"We did have a really great season, but at the same time, right now, it feels like it is a failure."
With the 2021-22 season now over for Minnesota, what promises to be a busy and eventful offseason will take center stage.
Wild General Manager Bill Guerin will have to deal with growing Salary Cap pain inflicted with the buyouts last summer of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Each of those will count almost $6.4 million against the cap, a cumulative increase of $8 million from this season.
And that number will grow another million apiece for two seasons beginning in 2023-24 before finally receding in 2025-26.
That's the cost of doing business, however, and Guerin has never regretted the decision to move on. He knew life would become increasingly difficult starting this offseason and Guerin has been steadfast that he has a plan to keep the Wild near the top of the NHL standings while weathering the cap crunch.
Minnesota has a number of players set to return on team-friendly contracts too. Marcus Foligno, Freddy Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman and Cam Talbot all brought tremendous value relative to their contributions this season, and all are set -- as of now -- to return next season.
Yet others, like restricted free agents Kevin Fiala and Jake Middleton (restricted) as well as unrestricted free agents Nic Deslauriers and Marc-Andre Fleury whose statuses and ability to return to Minnesota could force Guerin to make changes in order to make it happen.
Bottom line: The team that ended the season on the ice in St. Louis will not be back in its entirety for training camp. That was true even without cap tightness.
We'll hear more from the GM, as well as coach Dean Evason during their exit interviews with the media on Tuesday.
For now, here are some highlights from Monday's gathering with select players:
Deslauriers on what made Minnesota so special:
"Everything, just to start from the group of guys, the organization, the coaching staff, upper management, and this fan base is unbelievable. I think that's one thing. When I brought my kids here for the first game, I told them, 'You'll see when you're in the rink: It's something special.' Obviously the city. The city brings so much good to you, and I've heard the summers are great."