Locker Cleanout

The final game of an NHL playoff series always comes with a kind of denial for the losing team. Maybe it's the shock factor.

But locker cleanup and exit interviews is where the reality truly sets in. The finality of it all.

Around the corner from the interview room where Minnesota Wild players filed in Monday to meet with the media, work crews were busy tearing down the rink at Xcel Energy Center. The ice is gone. Banners and posters were being folded up, surplus jerseys put into storage, the boards and glass dismantled.

The end of year interviews with coaches and management and the media are part of that teardown ritual.

For the dozen Wild players who met with the media, there was a common thread of remorse, a sense of having let the first-round series against Dallas slip away from them.

"So disappointing obviously," said netminder Marc-Andre Fleury who started Game 2 and then came on in relief of Filip Gustavsson for the third period of Game 6.

"I really liked our team, the bunch of guys, the depth that we had, the mix of grit, skill, physicality that we had," Fleury added. "I really believed we could have gone for a run here and done some good. Obviously we all know it's not easy. I loved the way we played that first game and the third game I thought it was so good for us. If we could have, I don't know, found a way to do it over and over and over we would have been in good shape."

"Yeah, it still hurts. It's going to hurt for a while, especially with how wide open these playoffs are," added Ryan Hartman who scored the double-overtime game-winner in Game 1 in Dallas.

"The way these past games have gone, it's frustrating, because we feel like we belong, should still be playing," he said. "But we didn't do what we had to do and everything's over. So yeah, it's frustrating."

Wild GM Bill Guerin and head coach Dean Evason will meet with the media on Tuesday.

Perhaps no one summed up the disappointment better than veteran defenseman Matt Dumba.

It was an especially emotional day for Dumba who is on an expiring contract and whose future may not be in Minnesota given the team's salary cap situation. He has become a well-respected and important member of the community and a vocal leader in the locker room.

"My heart is definitely here in Minny. I want to win. I want to win here. But I really don't know what lies ahead," Dumba said.

"It's pretty crazy to look back at it and see 10 or 11 years just go by in the blink of an eye. I love Minny," he added. "Made so many friends here, put down some roots, a house here. It means a lot to me. And just how I've been able to be in the community and try to use my platform for good and make a difference, it's been just as fulfilling, if not more, for me going through all this and the connections I've made."

Dumba missed the third period of Game 6 after hitting his head on the glass. He became emotional when describing his defense partner Jonas Brodin, one of his closest friends, telling him he couldn't go back onto the ice given the injury.

"He's one of my best friends. He's a guy the other night that said, 'You know what? I'm not going to let you play,'" Dumba said. "So just having that kind of friend that looks out for you like that, he's a good dude. We've played some awesome hockey together. He makes it easy, but more than anything he's a true friend.

For some players the exit interviews included a candid discussion about their own play and feelings of disappointment at having not played up to their own expectations. Filip Gustavsson, who started five of the six games in the series against the Stars, said he felt after Game 1 he hadn't been at his best.

"First game was good. Thought I played pretty average for the rest of the games," Gustavsson said.

"I mean maybe I just wasn't a big difference maker for the team that maybe we needed it sometimes," he added. "We had trouble with the PK. I let in a few bad goals on the PK, stuff like that. Yeah, that's something I can learn from I guess."

Still, this season was a breakout one for the young netminder who finished second in the league in save percentage and goals against average. He's been asked to continue to work on his conditioning in the off-season in order that he might carry a bigger workload next season.

Matt Boldy, following a huge regular season that saw him score 31 times, failed to score in the playoffs and had just three assists. I had a chance to chat with him before the playoffs and he said he felt he'd learned from his first playoff experience a year ago about the way playoff hockey is different from the regular season. But this series was a struggle, he admitted on Monday.

"Obviously still not good enough. To be honest, I don't think I played well. That's my opinion," Boldy said. " "It just wasn't what it needed to be, and obviously it sucks. It's not what you want to have happen, feeling like you let teammates down and stuff like that. But it's another thing to learn from, and we don't want to let it happen again."

Boldy said it was less the pressure to score but the expectations he has for himself that makes this so disappointing.

"No, it's not pressure. It's expectation. It's how you think of yourself. It's wanting to be better, wanting to be the guy that has the puck and make plays and make a difference in the game, and for me that's not pressure. It's expectation. It's something you want to live up to," he said.

Kirill Kaprizov, likewise, wasn't pleased with his performance which included just one goal and that was scored in Game 1 in Dallas. He felt getting injured late in the regular season hurt him getting in the flow of playoff hockey but he also insisted he was fully healthy during the Dallas series.

"It definitely wasn't for a lack of effort. I definitely tried. It just didn't happen," Kaprizov said through an interpreter. "But at the end of the day, I need to continue to improve my game, continue to get better, adjust and continue to develop and elevate my game."

There was also talk of injuries that had an impact on the series.

Joel Eriksson Ek confirmed that he had surgery after Game 3 to address a broken fibula suffered when he blocked a shot against Pittsburgh on April 6. He lasted just 19 seconds in Game 3 even though he'd been skating and feeling good for days leading up to the game.

"Yeah, I think everybody says it is just so hard to sit and just watch. I think that's harder than actually being out there," Eriksson Ek said.

"Being with the guys, that's what you want to do. You want to be out there to try to do your best to help the team. This year, it just sucks. You play a whole season and then right before playoffs you get hurt."

"I think you guys saw, I was skating for I don't know how many days before, I felt good. And then just first shift, yeah, it didn't hold up," Eriksson Ek explained.

Hartman disclosed that he has a knee injury that effected his skating in the latter stages of the series.

"I'd rather not get into fully what it was, but I have some kind of knee injury," the rugged center said. He will not require surgery. At least that's the plan.

"Not currently. See how it goes next couple months here. But as of now, no," he said.

For a number of players on expiring contracts the summer will bring with it a sense of the unknown although all of those players who spoke on Monday said they would love to return to Minnesota.

"I have nothing but good things to say about this place, and I had a great experience here," said Gustav Nyquist who was acquired at the deadline from Columbus even though he was recovering from a shoulder injury.

"I really liked my time here and, again, a great group of guys, a great team," added Nyquist who tied for the team lead with five points in the post-season. "It was just great to be able to play playoff hockey again and great building to play in and all that. Only positive stuff."

Ryan Reaves, acquired from the New York Rangers in November, would like to stay but he acknowledged moving has been tough on his family in recent years. He would also like to play somewhere that would provide him term beyond one year. That may be difficult for the Wild given their cap issues.

"I love the group of guys here," Reaves said. "I got to talk to my family about some things and think some things over, but I'd like to be back."

Marcus Johansson, reacquired from Washington at the deadline, fit seamlessly in his second go-round with the Wild and indicated he, too, would be open to returning.

"I love everything about this place," Johansson said.

It's hard to imagine Brock Faber won't be on the opening night roster for the Wild next October but he's not taking anything for granted even though he impressed during the playoffs and the two regular season games he dressed for.

"I think this will be probably the most important off-season I'll have, for sure, in my life," Faber said. "It's a whole different level and 82 games is something you're not used to in college, so learning from the guys, trying to train like a pro and do anything I can - sleep, food, all of the little things that these guys have. They're pros, so again, trying to learn from them and come back as prepared as I can.

While his teammates describe Faber as playing like a seasoned pro, the 20-year-old University of Minnesota standout admitted it's been a bit of a whirlwind these past couple of months.

"It's all a lot different," he said. "The travel, hotels, it's really cool and I'm definitely grateful for all of it. I'm still kind of a kid in a candy store. Hockey-wise, the first game, first shift, I was kind of like, 'OK, here we go.' But again, it's been great in there and I'm just trying to soak it all in.

--

All video from today's locker cleanout can be found here.