Sidney Crosby gets why the Pittsburgh Penguins split with longtime coach Mike Sullivan this offseason, and he wants to stay out of the search for his replacement.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised by anything that happened, to be honest," Crosby told The Athletic's Josh Yohe after Canada's 5-0 win over France at the World Championship on Tuesday. "I understand it. I've played long enough now to know that there's always going to be ... some kind of change when you don't get the results that you want. And we haven't gotten the results that we've wanted for a while now. That's part of losing. That's the part of things that makes losing so difficult."
The Penguins parted ways with Sullivan in April after he spent 10 seasons in Pittsburgh. The veteran bench boss guided the Pens to back-to-back Stanley Cups in his first two campaigns with the club, and the New York Rangers swiftly hired him within days. The Penguins have missed the playoffs in three straight seasons.
Crosby made it clear he's not getting involved in the coaching search unless called upon.
"I don't have any say on who our next coach is going to be. And I prefer it that way," he said. "Because ultimately, I'm a hockey player. I'm not out there coaching games. I'm not a manager."
Crosby added: "If (general manager Kyle Dubas) wants my opinion on someone who's out there, and someone who is out there that I might have had as coach before or someone I've heard about, then sure, then I'll share my opinion."
Rick Tocchet is among the top commodities on the coaching market, and he won two Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh as an assistant coach in 2016 and 2017. Crosby acknowledged he's familiar with Tocchet, though he noted Tocchet's "going to have a ton of teams after him."
Crosby insisted he doesn't have a preference whether a coach has extensive NHL experience or would be a younger hire.
"It really doesn't matter. I don't care," he said. "I really don't. I just want to win, and I want the person behind the bench who is going to give us the best chance to win."
He leaves the decision in the hands of Pittsburgh's GM, who is just a year-and-a-half older than him. "Kyle's going to have decisions to make," Crosby said. "He's going to do what is best for this team."
