When Mike Sullivan’s time in Pittsburgh came to an end after nearly a decade behind the bench produced two Stanley Cup championships, he became the most-sought after coach on the market.

With plenty of vacancies around the NHL, Sullivan had his pick of the litter. He landed with the New York Rangers, tasked with taking over an Original Six franchise that missed last season’s playoffs but is loaded with talent.

Sullivan has coached Sidney Crosby and was picked by USA Hockey to lead the country at the upcoming Olympics in Milan. Starting this journey with the Rangers had him struggling to find a way to capture his emotions.

“This is a new challenge for me,” Sullivan said. “It’s hard for me to express in words how excited I am about this challenge and about this opportunity.”

Sullivan is one of nine coaches with a new challenge in front of him. A look at the changes for nearly a third of the league and what to expect:

Mike Sullivan, Rangers

Sullivan made trips over the summer to begin building personal relationships with his players. The 57-year-old from Massachusetts wanted to get to know players away from the rink and vice versa. When it comes to hockey, Sullivan’s straightforward approach is evident.

“Obviously a good pedigree,” defenseman Carson Soucy said. “He’s intense, very detail-focused and he wants to win.”

The Rangers haven’t won it all since 1994 but reached the Eastern Conference final in 2024.

Joel Quenneville, Ducks

Quenneville is back in the league with Anaheim, four years since resigning from Florida in the wake of an investigation into Chicago’s 2010 sexual assault allegations. Quenneville said at his introductory news conference he understands those who question is return and will “demonstrate (by) my actions that I am a man of character.”

The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup three times with Quenneville as their coach. Only Scotty Bowman has more NHL wins.

“Just to have a voice like that behind the bench guiding and leading our team, we got a good mix of some veterans and some young guys, so I think it’s a great hire and I’m really, really excited to play for him,” winger Sam Colangelo said.

Rick Tocchet, Flyers

Tocchet nearly was as prized as Sullivan after he decided not to renew his contract in Vancouver. Philadelphia is a homecoming of sorts for Tocchet, who played over 700 games in orange and black during separate stints.

“Him being back in Philly and wanting to be there and picking us, his excitement for where we’re headed, I think it excites us as a team and kind of the growth that we’re about to take,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “He’s already a step ahead. He already knows the organization, the city, the fans and so I think that’s going benefit us moving forward.”

Glen Gulutzan, Stars

Dallas fired Peter DeBoer following three consecutive trips to the West final. Pulling franchise goaltender Jake Oettinger in the series-deciding loss and his handling of it afterward played a part.

“You never want to see anyone lose their job,” Oettinger said. “It’s a tough business and with how good we’ve been the last three years, it’s tough. ... Looking forward to getting a fresh start.”

That comes with Gulutzan, rehired 12 years after being fired by the Stars his first time around. Gulutzan the past seven seasons has been an assistant in Edmonton, where he ran the power play and earned praise from Connor McDavid for his communication skills.

Marco Sturm, Bruins

Playing over 1,000 games in the NHL, coaching Germany at the Olympics and spending multiple years as a Los Angeles Kings assistant didn’t prepare Sturm for taking over in Boston. It took three full seasons running a bench with Ontario of the American Hockey League to be ready.

“This is the time,” Sturm said. “Timing is everything. And I couldn’t end up in a better spot than Boston.”

Jeff Blashill, Blackhawks

Connor Bedard, the top pick in 2023, might finally have a long-term coach after Chicago fired Luke Richardson last December and played out the season with Anders Sorensen in an interim role. Blashill gets his second head-coaching job in the league after seven years with Detroit from 2015-22.

“We’re excited to have him,” Bedard said. “He’s thrilled to be with us. He’s showing a ton of excitement.”

Lane Lambert, Kraken

Dan Bylsma lasted one season in Seattle after he was promoted from the minors to replace Dave Hakstol. Lambert, fired in January 2024 by the New York Islanders, is tasked with getting the Kraken back to respectability.

“He brings a structure, an emphasis on structure that we desperately need a little bit,” captain Jordan Eberle said.

Dan Muse, Penguins

Muse, who was an assistant under former Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, takes over with Pittsburgh nearing a crossroads. Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang still are around but a youth movement is coming. Muse has caught players’ attention.

“I came and grabbed dinner here at the rink,” Letang said. “When I left, I think it was 8 o’clock and he was still on his computer working on some stuff. So there you go. You see the passion that he has for the game and trying to work on every little detail to make us better and improve every single guy out there.”

Adam Foote, Canucks

Tocchet’s exit opened a void for the Canucks, who would love to convince elite defenseman and captain Quinn Hughes to stick around beyond the end of his current contract in 2027. Hughes said he had his two best seasons with Foote, a former defenseman, as an assistant, but that guarantees nothing.

“It’s different being a head coach,” Hughes said. “I’m sure there’s going to be challenges as a first-year head coach that he’s going face, just like anyone else would. But I think he’s prepared for it.”

PITTSBURGH — Scotty Bowman and Ron Francis headline the Pittsburgh Penguins' Hall of Fame class of 2025.

Bowman, the NHL's all-time winningest coach, and Francis, the league's fifth all-time leading scorer, were both important members of the Pittsburgh teams of the early 1990s that claimed the franchise's first two Stanley Cups.

The duo, both of whom are in the Hockey Hall of Fame, will be joined by forward Kevin Stevens and former coach/general manager Eddie Johnston during an on-ice ceremony when the Penguins host Columbus on Oct. 25.

All four inductees played a role in Pittsburgh becoming one of the league's marquee attractions during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Johnston was the general manager when the Penguins drafted Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux with the first overall pick in 1984 and later served as the club's head coach from 1993-97.

Bowman was Pittsburgh's director of player personnel during the 1990-91 season, during which he helped the club bring in a series of veterans - including Francis - to round out a roster ready to compete for a title. Bowman took over as head coach in 1991 after Bob Johnson was forced to step down because of a brain cancer diagnosis shortly after leading the Penguins to a championship.

Pittsburgh won its second straight Stanley Cup in 1992 with Bowman behind the bench. He then guided the Penguins to the Presidents’ Trophy in 1992-93 but exited the following offseason in a contract dispute.

Francis spent eight seasons in Pittsburgh after coming over in a trade with the Hartford Whalers. He scored 164 goals to go with 449 assists with the Penguins, adding another 100 points in the playoffs.

Stevens was a three-time All-Star across his two stints in Pittsburgh, scoring 260 goals and adding 295 assists in 522 games with the club.

LAS VEGAS — Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has not ruled out playing again for the Golden Knights — even this season — hoping to avoid surgery as he goes through rehabilitation on his injured hip.

Vegas placed him on long-term injured reserve earlier this year, which gave the Golden Knights room under the salary cap to sign prized sign-and-trade acquisition Mitch Marner.

At the time, it was announced that Pietrangelo would undergo surgery for bilateral femur reconstruction that most certainly would have ended any hopes of playing this season. Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon even doubted Pietrangelo would play again.

But the 35-year-old Pietrangelo said in a news conference he has responded well to rehab and was keeping an open mind about playing this season. He has two seasons remaining on a seven-year, $61.6 million contract.

“Nothing’s really concrete,” Pietrangelo said. “I’m going to take it day by day and go through my process and see where it goes.”

He said his hip has been a long-term issue, but particularly flared up last season.

Pietrangelo had planned to play for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off at the NHL’s mid-season break, but withdrew from the tournament with the hopes of being healthy enough to contribute to a potential deep Golden Knights playoff run. It wasn’t an easy decision because Pietrangelo said he was disappointed that his wife and children didn’t get to see him play in that international event.

As for the Golden Knights, Vegas won the Pacific Division, but was eliminated in five games in the second round by eventual Western Conference champion Edmonton.

“Last year was when (the injury) really took a toll,” Pietrangelo said. “I couldn’t exactly pinpoint why. By the time it really started to get to me last year, to try and address it with how good of a team we had, it would’ve cut the whole year off for me.

“When you have a roster like we did and you have an opportunity you think to win, that’s a tough thing to give up. So that didn’t really cross my mind. I didn’t really know exactly what we were dealing with until the end of the season.”

He talked about the importance not only of keeping this chapter on his playing career open, but also of making sure he was healthy enough to do the things involved with being a good dad and husband.

Pietrangelo has remained in Las Vegas to be close to his teammates and maybe even help younger players either with the main club or the American Hockey League affiliate in nearby Henderson.

As a key member of two Stanley Cup championship teams — St. Louis in 2019 and Vegas in 2023 — Pietrangelo carries the gravitas of an accomplished veteran player. He also has 637 points in his 17-year career.

“I love being part of a locker room,” Pietrangelo said. “Anybody that’s played sports, especially at our age, to get together with the guys, it’s been really, really fun to come here and still see everybody and be part of the group.”

Bernie Parent, the Hall of Famer considered one of the great goalies of all time who anchored the net for the Philadelphia Flyers’ only two Stanley Cup championships during their Broad Street Bullies heyday, has died. He was 80.

The Flyers made the announcement Sunday but provided no immediate details. Parent died overnight in his sleep, said Joe Watson, a star defenseman on their Stanley Cup teams.

Watson said by phone that he saw Parent and other former Flyers players at a function on Friday night in Delaware.

“Bernie was in such pain, he could hardly walk,” Watson said, citing Parent’s bad back. “We had a great time, but I felt bad because he was in such terrible pain. To see this happen, it’s very sad.”

Parent’s steel-eyed stare through his old-school hockey mask landed him on the cover of Time magazine in 1975 when the Flyers reigned as one of the marquee teams in sports. He won Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe and Vezina trophies in back-to-back seasons when the Flyers captured the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975, the first NHL expansion team to win the championship.

“The legend of Bernie Parent reached far beyond the ice and his accolades,” the Flyers said in a statement. “Bernie had a deep love for Philadelphia and fans of the Flyers. He was passionate about his role as an ambassador for Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education and inspired an entire generation of hockey fans. He dedicated his time, energy and enthusiasm to not only grow the game, but also to spread joy to anyone he encountered.”

After he made his NHL debut with Boston in 1965, Parent was left unprotected by the Bruins in the 1967 expansion draft and was selected by the Flyers. After 3 1/2 seasons, he was traded to Toronto but ended up back in Philadelphia ahead of the 1973-74 season. He won a league-high 47 games that season and led the NHL in wins again the next season with 44.

He retired with the Flyers in 1979 after 271 wins — 231 of them with the Flyers — over a 13-year career. Parent was accidentally struck in the right eye with a stick in 1979 and was temporarily blinded. He never played again.

The Flyers beat the Bruins in six games to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 and beat Buffalo in 1975. Parent had shutouts in the clinchers each season.

On the flight home from Buffalo, the Flyers plopped the Stanley Cup in the middle of the aisle. For close to 90 minutes, they couldn’t take their eyes off hockey’s ultimate prize.

“We were able to just sit back, look at the Stanley Cup and just savour it,” Parent said in 2010. “It was just a special time.”

With Parent the unstoppable force in net, “Only the Lord saves more than Bernie Parent,” became a popular slogan in Philadelphia that stuck with him through the decades.

Parent, team captain Bobby Clarke and Dave “The Hammer” Schultz all became stars for the Flyers under owner Ed Snider in an era when the team was known for its rugged style of play that earned the Bullies nickname. They embraced their moniker as the most despised team in the NHL and pounded their way into the hearts of Flyers fans. More than 2 million fans packed Philadelphia streets for each of their championship parades.

“We always felt comfortable with Bernie in the net,” said former Flyers winger and enforcer Bob Kelly. “He would challenge the guys in practice. He’d stop the puck and throw it back at you and say, ‘go ahead, try and catch this one.’ He was the first guy to jump in line to help another teammate if they needed it. He was a real testament to what a team player is all about.”

Parent’s No. 1 jersey was retired by the Flyers and still hangs in the rafters of their arena and in 1984 he became the first Flyers player inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is still the Flyers’ career leader in shutouts with 50.

Parent remained connected with the team over the years as an ambassador.

“He was so good with people,” said Watson, who first met Parent in 1963. “A lot of athletes don’t get it or don’t give fans the time of day. Bernie gave everyone the time of day. He’d always have his rings on. He’d show them to the people and people loved to see them. This past Friday in Delaware, people were coming up, they wanted to see the rings. People were so excited to see him. He had a great sense of humor. Bernie was a funny guy.”

The final career highlight came in 2011 when Parent was in the net for an alumni game outdoors at the baseball stadium Citizens Bank Park ahead of the NHL Classic. “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!” echoed throughout the park for the affable goalie, who played 5 minutes, 32 seconds and stopped all six shots. Each save made the “Bernie!” chants return.

Parent was the second Hall of Fame goaltender to die this month following the loss of Montreal Canadiens goalie Ken Dryden. Dryden helped the Montreal Canadiens win six Stanley Cup titles in the 1970. He died at 78 after a fight with cancer.

“They’re big losses,” Watson said. “They were just prime, super goaltenders.”

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin revealed Friday that his fiancée, Carolina Matovac, needed a lifesaving heart transplant over the summer.

In a message Dahlin and Matovac posted on the Sabres website on Friday, the defenseman outlined how his fiancée felt sick for several days during a vacation in France before her heart failed. He wrote that Matovac required CPR on “multiple occasions and up to a couple of hours at a time,” and then spent weeks on life support before receiving a new heart.

Dahlin said Matovac is “on the path to a full recovery” and is rehabilitating in Sweden before she can be cleared to travel and join him in Buffalo.

“Without her receiving lifesaving CPR, the result would have been unimaginable. It is hard to even think about the worst-case scenario,” wrote Dahlin, who is in Buffalo for training camp, which opened Thursday.

“We want to spotlight the importance of CPR treatment, CPR training, organ donation and heart-related issues that impact so many people and families around the world,” the message said. “We cannot say thank you enough to all organ donors, and are appreciative beyond words for the new life that organ donation has provided to Carolina.”

The two credited doctors and staff at several hospitals in France and Sweden where Matovac was treated, as well as the Hogsbo Rehabilitation Center in Sweden.

Dahlin also expressed gratitude to the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, the Sabres and his agent, Craig Oster, for their support. He thanked NHLPA physician Scott Delaney for overseeing plans on Matovac’s medical treatment and offering comfort to relatives of the couple.

The 25-year-old Dahlin is entering his eighth NHL season after being selected first overall by Buffalo in the 2018 draft. The Swede has topped 50 points in each of his past four seasons and was selected to represent his country at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

”(Matovac) has demonstrated an incredible determination, spirit, positivity and resilience that I am in awe of,” Dahlin wrote.

“This has undoubtedly been the most challenging chapter of our lives. However it is something that we have learned so much from,” he added. “We hope that we can all reflect on how fortunate we are to have the people and experiences that we share together every single day.”

LAS VEGAS — The Golden Knights always are going for it, constantly willing to chase top talent in order to make a run at the Stanley Cup.

Their latest big-name acquisition, Mitch Marner, appeared on the ice as Vegas opened training camp.

“We haven’t had a stretch in our history where you know you’re taking a step back,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “That’s not how we feel. We’re going to be pedal to the floorboard.”

The Golden Knights would be among the favorites this season even if they hadn’t acquired Marner in a sign-and-trade deal worth $96 million over eight years. But having one of the NHL’s top playmakers on the roster moves Vegas closer to the front of the contender conversation.

Two-time defending champion Florida is the 6-1 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook and next up are Vegas and Colorado at 8-1 each.

Marner and some of his new teammates attended the Las Vegas Raiders-Los Angeles Chargers game and were shown on the Allegiant Stadium big screen. Included were three of the top five picks from the 2015 draft — Jack Eichel (No. 2), Marner (No. 4) and Noah Hanifin (No. 5).

All on the same club.

It’s not like Marner isn’t used to extraordinarily high expectations.

He comes from the hockey hotbed of Toronto, where he played for the team he grew up cheering on. Marner hoped the storybook tale of leading his beloved team to the championship would eventually come true.

It didn’t, and as disappointed as he was at failing to get past the second round each season, many Maple Leafs fans took it even more personally. As the face of the franchise, Marner often took the brunt of criticism from one of the league’s most rabid fan bases.

He later told Canadian sports network TSN that safety concerns for his family were one of the reasons he wanted to leave. In landing in Vegas, Marner has the chance to start over with a new fan base, and he said he could see their passion at the Raiders game.

“It’s been a lot of fun getting to know the area pretty well now,” Marner said. “It’s been great going out for walks — the sun, the heat, the mountains. The dog’s still getting used to it here with the heat, but it’s just been awesome.”

Marner, like Eichel, is more of a playmaker than a shot taker. He was fifth in the league last season with 102 points and third with 75 assists, both career highs. Marner scored 27 goals.

Eichel produced similar numbers, finishing with 28 goals, 66 assists and 94 points. He acknowledged after last season he probably needs to shoot more often.

One of the key questions going into the season is whether coach Bruce Cassidy will use both players on the same top line or split them up. If they play together like they did in practice— Ivan Barbashev was the third line member — at least one of them will have to be more aggressive.

“We’re both going to have to shoot it,” Marner said. “I think we’re both going to get some good opportunities. We’ve got to be comfortable in the areas to not be afraid to shoot. Barby’s going to be around the net hunting those pucks, so just try to get it around there.”

Eichel contract remains priority

McCrimmon said after last season that keeping Eichel, who has one season left on his eight-year, $80 million contract, was high on the agenda. He maintained that stance with camp opening.

“We have tremendous regard for the player and what he’s meant to our organization,” McCrimmon said. “I think he feels the organization’s been very good for him as well. We’ll continue to have dialogue.”

Eichel was not made available to the media after taking part in only one of two practice sessions. Cassidy said Eichel had tweaked something in the first session and was kept out for precautionary reasons.

Eichel said during the NHL media tour that he wasn’t opposed to continuing negotiations if nothing gets done before the season begins.

“If a contract happens organically, then it happens,” Eichel said at the time. “Right now, you’re just focused on trying to get yourself in as good of a place as you can be to start the season and help the hockey team.”

Pietrangelo still involved

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who won Stanley Cups in St. Louis and Vegas, has been one of the Golden Knights’ key figures as much as for his leadership abilities as his on-ice performance.

He is not playing this season because of a major hip injury and his NHL future is in question.

McCrimmon said Pietrangelo plans on living in Las Vegas and be involved with the club.

“He’s around the facility lots,” McCrimmon said. “He wants to stay connected, stay busy, so we expect to see him a fair bit.”

FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger looks forward to one day being able to laugh about how last season ended, when he quickly was pulled after allowing two goals on the only shots he faced in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final.

“In the long run, I feel like I’m gonna look back on it as something that helped me,” Oettinger said during the opening day of training camp for the Stars. “And when we do win it all, it’s going to be, you know, look back and laugh and feel like that was something I had to go through in order to get to that.”

The Stars have been to the playoffs four consecutive seasons with Oettinger in net. They lost in the conference final the past three seasons, with Edmonton knocking them out the last two.

Oettinger was pulled only 7:09 into that 6-3 loss last May, in what was a curious and much-discussed decision by now-former Stars coach Pete DeBoer. After the game, DeBoer pointed out that Oettinger had lost six of his previous seven playoff games against the Oilers and he was hoping that a goalie switch would spark the team in an elimination game.

Well, that obviously didn’t happen and instead prompted questions about how the move would impact the relationship between the coach and the 26-year-old goalie whose eight-year, $66 million contract extension signed last October kicks in this season. The two didn’t immediately talk in the aftermath of the decision.

“A little more blown out of proportion than it actually was. I think stuff happens, emotions run high and people say and do things on a whim that maybe they look back and regret,” Oettinger said. “I mean, I’ve done that in my life. I’m sure everyone here has done that. ... You just learn from it, and that’s what I did.”

Eight days after their season-ending loss, the Stars fired DeBoer. General manager Jim Nill said then that input from players and fallout from the Oettinger move were not the only factors in the decision to move on from the coach who had a 149-68-29 record in regular-season games and 29-27 in the playoffs over three seasons in Dallas.

Only regret for DeBoer

DeBoer told NHL.com in a story posted this week that he still had no reservations about pulling Oettinger, but did regret how he handled the postgame narrative.

“Listen, we were all to blame for coming up short again, and it starts with me,” DeBoer said in his first public comments since being fired. “It was on me, it was on all the coaches, it was on all the players, it was on the organization as a whole. We all created the disappointment. We were all to blame, not just one guy.”

As for his accurate reference to Oettinger losing six of the previous seven playoffs games to Edmonton over two years when responding to a postgame question about why he made the switch, DeBoer said he should have made it clearer that those losses were on everyone.

“It wasn’t just him. It was all of us,” DeBoer told NHL.com. “It was all of us.”

Asked about DeBoer’s comments, Oettinger said, “I think he hit the nail on the head with what he said, so let’s leave it at that.”

Young standout goalie

Oettinger was part of the Stars’ impressive 2017 draft class, the 26th overall pick late in the first round after Dallas got standout defenseman Miro Heiskanen with the third pick. High-scoring forward Jason Robertson was chosen 39th overall in the second round.

In 251 regular-season games (242 starts) over five NHL seasons, Oettinger has a 149-66-27 record, .912 save percentage and 2.52 goals against average. He is 32-30 with a .912 save percentage and 2.56 GAA in 65 playoff games, and the only two of those he didn’t start was when making his NHL debut during the pandemic-impacted 2020 season completed in a Canadian bubble.

“He’s, I think, a top-three goalie in the league for sure,” said Mikko Rantanen, the trade deadline acquisition last March who like Oettinger is starting an eight-year contract extension. “That’s a big advantage to have a goalie who you can trust. And he works hard off the ice. You know he wants to get better, which is really good also.”

PITTSBURGH — Marc-Andre Fleury is ending his NHL career back where it began.

The veteran goaltender, who officially retired last spring following a 21-year career, signed a professional tryout contract with the Penguins on Friday and is going to suit up for the club during Pittsburgh’s exhibition game against Columbus on Sept. 27.

The 40-year-old Fleury was taken No. 1 overall by the Penguins in the 2003 NHL draft. He spent the first 13 seasons of his career in Pittsburgh, helping longtime teammates Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang win three Stanley Cups. Fleury left the Penguins after being selected by Vegas during the expansion draft shortly after Pittsburgh won the second of back-to-back championships in 2017.

“Marc means so much to our team, our fans and the City of Pittsburgh because of the person he is and the example he set,” Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas said in a statement. “The Penguins feel he and his family are most deserving of this opportunity to celebrate this full-circle moment back where it all started in front of the black and gold faithful.”

Fleury, known universally as “Flower,” was incredibly popular with both teammates and fans alike. He ranks second all-time in NHL history in victories (575) and won the Vezina Trophy in 2021 while playing for Vegas.

Yet he is most well-known for his long tenure in Pittsburgh. Fleury holds nearly every major goaltending record in Penguins history, including games played (691), wins (375) and shutouts (44).

CALGARY, Alberta — The Calgary Flames signed goalie Dustin Wolf to a seven-year, $52.5 million contract extension.

Wolf finished second in Calder Trophy voting last season as NHL rookie of the year.

He had a 29-16-8 record with a .910 save percentage and a 2.64 goals-against average.

The 24-year-old American finished 11th in wins and save percentage among NHL goalies in his rookie season, backstopping Calgary to the brink of a playoff berth.

Wolf, who also played 17 games in Calgary during the 2023-24 season, was the American Hockey League’s goalie of the year in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

His extension will kick in for the 2026-27 season and run through 2033.

LAS VEGAS — Sidney Crosby is well aware of the trade talk swirling around him, now that he and the Pittsburgh Penguins have gone three seasons without making the playoffs.

Going into another at age 38 with little realistic hope of the team contending, the three-time Stanley Cup champion acknowledged the rumors are now part of his reality, even if he’d rather they not be.

“I understand it,” Crosby said at the NHL player media tour on the Las Vegas Strip. “That’s the hard part about losing. Everybody thinks that the losing is the buzzer goes (off), you lose a game and that sucks, but there’s so much more than that. It’s the turnover. It’s the unknown, the uncertainty, the question marks. That’s the stuff that’s tough.”

A year ago, Crosby signed an extension that keeps him under contract through the 2026-27 season with the only professional organization he has ever known. It came with a team-friendly $8.7 million salary cap hit — the same he has had through 2008 and a nod to his jersey No. 87 — and provides room to build around the face of the franchise.

Instead, the Penguins look to be in rebuilding mode. They sold at the trade deadline in March, and veterans ranging from Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell to Erik Karlsson have been speculated as trade candidates even more realistically than Crosby.

“It hasn’t changed my approach,” Crosby said. “I still go out there trying to win every single game and try to be the best that I can be, and I think that youth and having that energy around you isn’t a bad thing either. We’ve got a lot of hungry guys, a lot of competition for spots. I think you just try to find different things that you can feed off of and still continue to learn through it.”

Crosby has a full no-movement clause, essentially putting him in control of his future. He has been linked to Colorado, where close friend Nathan MacKinnon has the Avalanche as one of the top teams in the Western Conference, and even Montreal, especially after starring there during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

Growing up in Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, Crosby was a Canadiens fan and mentioned that during the 4 Nations. So, yes, he understands why folks might think he’d want to play there for an organization on the rise in a hockey-crazed market.

“I get it, trust me,” Crosby said, recalling being in Montreal in June early in his time in the league and marveling at how broadcasts were already projecting lineups for the next training camp in September. “They’re so into it, and I get it as to why that would come up and that sort of thing. It doesn’t make it any easier when you’re losing, for sure, to hear those things, but at the same time, to know that a team like that wants you, it’s not the end of the world. It could be worse. I just think that’s part of it.”