It will have to wait until next season, though, which was a painful reality that began to set in Monday night in the Jackets' locker room. But Foligno's words resonated.
This wasn't the byproduct of some fluky season that comes along every once in a while. This was the first time in franchise history the Blue Jackets qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in consecutive years, which has now become the standard in Columbus.
As much as this team, this season and this series will be picked apart for shortcomings, the fact remains the Blue Jackets are still in good shape moving forward.
They have a few key contract issues to resolve, including Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky entering the final years of their current deals and Ian Cole a pending free agent, but there's a foundation firmly in place.
There's a top center in 19-year old Pierre-Luc Dubois. There's a top-line scorer in Cam Atkinson, plus a burgeoning young power forward in Josh Anderson. There's a great leader in Foligno. There are two of the most dangerous "rovers" in the NHL, Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, who form the top defense pairing. There are young, puck-moving defensemen filling in behind them.
There's also Bobrovsky, who despite some tough goals allowed in the series, showed marked improvement from playoffs past.
"I think the organization's made a lot of good choices, whether it's free agency, trades, drafts, anything," said Dubois, who also took the loss hard. "You look at the talent we have in this room and we have a really deep team and it's full everywhere. Not a lot of weaknesses. It's fun to be here."
It could've been a lot more fun, were it not for mere inches and bounces that didn't go their way. That plus knowing the roster will go through some turnover, is why this one stung so much.
"I'm so proud to lead this team, but I just want to see something good happen for our team," Foligno said. "I want us to realize the potential we have in here, and I want it to happen now. So, forgive me for being a little bit antsy to see this team reach where it needs to go, but we're going to make sure that's the case going forward here. But I'm always proud of these guys, no matter what happens."
Impatience in Game 6 led nowhere good for the Jackets, who forced the issue a few too many times and turned the puck over for a number of odd-man rush attempts against Bobrovsky.
Impatience after the game, expressed by Foligno and others, is exactly what they'll need going forward. It's beyond time for them to win now, in both the regular season and playoffs. If there's any one thing to be gleaned from this series, that's probably it.
This is no longer a rebuilding franchise. It's a winning franchise. Sure, there are still a few marks visible on its face, but they're fading.
"We all have the same mindset in this room," said Jones, who's only 23 and took big strides this season. "We play the game to win. Every year we come in for a new season, our goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and everyone's on the same page with that. It doesn't always work out, but hopefully we're taking steps in the right direction."
