Wild's first-round exit last season is a powerful motivator for team's core players

The Wild won't look like the team that lost in the first round of the playoffs when they report for training camp in September.

But they will likely be very similar to the group that started last season.

"I think you see a lot of these teams that keep their cores together a long time, they eventually have success," defenseman Alex Goligoski said. "We've had great seasons. We just haven't been able to push that forward in the postseason.

"No reason why we don't expect to have as much success in the regular season again, and we gained experience in the postseason. It's time to keep going."

Since getting eliminated by Dallas in six games, the Wild's roster has evolved, but mostly because of subtraction.

Nearly all the team's in-season trade additions signed elsewhere: Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg joined Toronto, Gustav Nyquist is with Nashville and most recently Oskar Sundqvist reunited with St. Louis.

Only Marcus Johansson is returning after securing a two-year, $4 million contract shortly after the season ended.

Minus the absence of Matt Dumba, who remains a free agent, the Wild will have much of the depth chart in place that has taken shape since the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts once they finalize new deals for goaltender Filip Gustavsson and defenseman Calen Addison.

On Sunday, the team announced a one-year contract for winger Brandon Duhaime worth $1.1 million.

Duhaime and Gustavsson filed for salary arbitration earlier this month, and Duhaime's hearing was set for Thursday. But as is typically the case, the two sides reached an agreement ahead of time. Gustavsson's hearing is scheduled for Aug. 4.

With Duhaime re-signed, the Wild have approximately $6 million in salary cap space after also trading for Pat Maroon and bringing in Vinni Lettieri and Jake Lucchini on two-way deals.

This is the first of two seasons in which the Parise and Suter buyouts will cost the team almost $15 million.

"We all know the situation with the cap," captain Jared Spurgeon said. "You lose some players. But then you get a character guy like Pat who's won a lot of Stanley Cups here in the last little while. So, he definitely has some wisdom for us.

"He's a character, as well, so he can lighten the room."

Goligoski was hanging out with Maroon at Balsam Lake in Wisconsin the weekend Maroon was traded to the Wild from Tampa Bay and believes the three-time Stanley Cup champion will "fit right in" with the Wild. Maroon has one season left on his contract, which the Wild acquired for $800,000.

"He knows how it works," Goligoski said. "He knows the important moments in the season. That's invaluable. He brings that in spades."

Most of the Wild, though, haven't accomplished what Maroon has, and Spurgeon made it clear the players won't be satisfied until they win.

"We didn't get past the first round, but we have belief in ourselves," Spurgeon said. "There's no wavering there. We believe we're going to do it, and we just have to put the work in and go that way and believe in ourselves."