There is plenty to look forward to. Most of the key players have signed for next year, though there is one very obvious vacancy.
Aaron and Ben Smith, Waisake Naholo, Liam Squire, Liam Coltman and Luke Whitelock have all committed to the franchise for next season.
Locks Tom Franklin and Jackson Hemopo have signed and will be joined by loose forwards James Lentjes, Dillon Hunt, Elliot Dixon and Marino Mikaele Tu'u.
Out the back, the Highlanders have tied up midfielders Rob Thompson and Tei Walden and Naholo is joined by Tevita Nabura out on the wings.
Ben Smith could bring up his 150th game for the Highlanders next year, which would be a first for any player at the franchise.
The one hole - and it is a glaring one - is who is going to fill the first five-eighth position next season and beyond.
Lima Sopoaga is heading off to the Wasps club in England after this season and he will take a truckload of experience with him.
Sopoaga arrived as a green first five-eighth in 2011 and it took him three years to find his feet. He has matured into a quality operator and should be a smash hit in England.
The Highlanders have signed Bryn Gatland and Josh Ioane for next season but are still looking around for someone to steer the ship while the younger players learn their craft.
Who that will be is yet to be revealed by the Highlanders, but the franchise has until the end of October to find someone to fill Sopoaga's shoes.
The Highlanders have upwards of 30 players signed for next season, wishing to bed down a continuity that has been with the side for the past few years. Continuity can never be frowned upon and is a valuable asset in an intense competition such as Super Rugby.
Players who have played together for years on end are comfortable with each other and know their own games and those around them inside out.
The team has had a basic core built around the Smiths in the past few years and that will continue next season, should injury not intervene.
What happens the following year is anyone's guess.
With the World Cup in 2019 bookending next season, a whole raft of players right around New Zealand have their contracts ending at the end of that season.
Aaron Smith, Luke Whitelock, Naholo, Squire and Coltman all have contracts coming to an end in 2019. Ben Smith's contract runs through until 2020 but he can opt out at any time.
Whether a flood of players head off overseas is a worry for the union bosses, but there may well be a changing of the guard at many of the New Zealand franchises in 2020.