In 65 games during the regular season, Spurgeon put together a, well, Spurgeon-like performance on the back end, tallying 10 goals, 30 assists and 40 points to go with a plus-32 rating.
It was the fifth time in his career Spurgeon has reached double digits in goals, all in the past seven years. The 30 assists were a career best and the first time he's reached that plateau. It was the second time he's scored 40 points in a campaign and just three shy of his career best 43, which came in 2018-19, the only time he's played all 82 games in a season.
Never one to obsess too much over the offensive numbers, Spurgeon would probably tell you he's most proud of -- at least individually -- the plus-32, the second-best number of his career and one that ended a four-year run of minus (barely, but still minus) seasons.
In 772 games in the NHL, Spurgeon is now a plus-80 for his career and stands just one goal shy of reaching the century mark.
The team's historically good regular season though was a reflection in large part to the locker room culture change that he has helped spearhead in his time as captain.
Armed with a pair of new alternate captains in Marcus Foligno and Matt Dumba this season, Minnesota's room was as tight as it has ever been. That was reflected on the ice, as the Wild set franchise records for wins and points, posting the best regular season in team history, and finishing with the second-most points in the Western Conference.
"It's tough to go through 82 games and be consistent like we were," Spurgeon said. "For that, the reasoning, it's a bright future and it's going to be hard next year to continue that now. Obviously, the standards every year we're bringing it higher and higher."
Where those standards are certainly higher -- and where they weren't met -- were in the postseason, where the Wild lost in six games in a hard-fought series against the St. Louis Blues.
"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."
Reaching the postseason hasn't been much of a problem for the Wild in Spurgeon's tenure with the team, especially of late. Minnesota has been a playoff team in nine of the past 10 years.
Playoff success has been fleeting, however, with the Wild falling in the First Round each of the past two years, in four games of the Qualifying Round in the Edmonton bubble in 2020, and in the First Round in each of the three previous trips to the postseason in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Minnesota hasn't advanced past the First Round since 2015 and next season will mark two decades since the Wild made its lone trip to the Western Conference Final in 2003.
That's something the Wild captain desperately wants to change, but he says it won't be easy.
"There's no easy team to play against in the League anymore. I think every team is competitive and have a lot of skill," Spurgeon said. "Playoffs is a different beast. The games are so tight and teams make adjustments. You're going after one team for seven games, so obviously it's the video and focus on that one thing. But for us, I think, you can learn a lot from this year and just the mental toughness that you need.
"I thought we had good depth on every position. A team that was close and loved playing for each other, and being around each other, that for going into the future is just learning and I think maturing as a group as well."
