Ignoring all the facts for a second and just taking it all in. The playoffs was a failure. This team, on its face at least, should have won the Metro or at least been in contention for it. I think we could have beaten Pittsburgh/NYI in a series and Carolina as well. Washington would have been a toss up. The roster put together after the deadline was on paper right there with Boston and Toronto for 2nd best in the East. You don't go all in for a second round exit. A second round exit isn't great.
But when you put the facts in, and everything about the team. I think the postseason was a success. It's hard to call the first ever series win by the franchise a failure, and obviously not ending in the result we wanted, but we had to integrate 3 new players into the lineup and get them on board a moving train. If Duchene and Dzingel were here for the whole season I think we would have finished better, and maybe Dzingel would have been able to integrate into the team and have Torts learn him a bit better. He was wasted here. The whole Panarin/Bob drama did affect the team, I don't care what they say, it's human for them and the others to have it in the back of their mind. The first round sweep is something never to be forgotten here, especially against a team like Tampa Bay. It's something I will always appreciate and remember even when we have more success one day (hopefully at least). If you told me before the season started that we would win a round, I would have been happy with that. Even though it is disappointing we spent so much draft capital and prospects going all in to fall way short of the goal, it is still better than anything we've had before. So I am okay with it.
And no, this isn't accepting mediocrity. It's just taking what life gives you. Jarmo got the pieces in place, it just didn't jell well until the end of the season and into the playoffs. Losing to Boston isn't anything to sniff at. Hell, they'll probably win the cup. Hopefully our young players like PLD, Anderson, Bjork, Werenski, Gavrikov, Texier, and others use it as fuel to be our best players and be the next star here.