PITTSBURGH — This NHL offseason has been dominated by players wanting a change of address.Brady Tkachuk wanted to play in Florida and got his wish.Dylan Larkin wants to depart Detroit. We’ll see whether he gets his way.Zach Werenski seemed to flirt with leaving Columbus before deciding to stay in Ohio. For now, anyway.The Jason Robertson saga is ongoing. The Leo Carlsson situation is capturing the attention of hockey fans — and general managers — everywhere.I don’t blame players for chasing as much money as they can. We all have families, loved ones or ourselves to support. They shouldn’t be villainized for maximizing their earning potential.But those who display true loyalty and those who, in the name of winning and affection for a region, refuse to play elsewhere deserve special recognition.The further the Pittsburgh Penguins get from the winning days — next spring will mark the 10th anniversary of their most recent championship — the more angst, in some circles of the fanbase, grows. This is understandable. The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since 2018, and the franchise is attempting to execute a rebuild of sorts that isn’t really a rebuild because of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang.With these three, the numbers sometimes tell the story.By the conclusion of this offseason, the big three will be a combined 118 years old. When next season begins, they will have spent a combined 64 seasons as members of the Penguins. That’s more than half of their lifetimes.Crosby’s loyalty to the Penguins is almost as legendary as his career. We can conservatively estimate that, during his time with Pittsburgh, Crosby has turned away $50 million to give the Penguins more salary-cap flexibility. Many will point to his $8.7 million salary as a reflection of Crosby’s well-known superstition about his birthday, and though I have no doubt this plays a role, I also have no doubt Crosby wouldn’t play for $3.28 million annually if his birthday were March 28. Nor would he play for $12.31 million if he were a New Year’s Eve baby. He knows his worth and chooses to make a respectable amount of money while still shorting himself of riches so the Penguins have a better opportunity to thrive.Agents and the National Hockey League Players’ Association don’t love Crosby does this, but I know Pittsburgh does.And it’s not like Crosby is acting alone.When Malkin was about to become an unrestricted free agent in 2022, he was furious that then-general manager Ron Hextall had chosen against offering him a contract. An era appeared to be ending. Malkin, past his prime but still a magnificent player at that time, could have found a lucrative contract elsewhere. He owns a home in Florida and probably could have made his way to Sunrise. Remember, that was before they became the Panthers as we know them. Someone would have offered him quite a deal.Instead, Malkin patiently waited. He never thought about playing for another team. It was made clear to Hextall that Crosby preferred that Malkin stay.Malkin, much to his delight, got his contract. Though he doesn’t always articulate his thoughts to perfection in English, he speaks a lot about how much he loves Pittsburgh and the Penguins. When he does, his point is loud and clear. He’s a Penguin. At this point, he’s a Pittsburgher.This was more than evident during the 2025-26 season. It was well known within the organization Kyle Dubas didn’t plan on bringing back Malkin after last season. Otherwise, of course, he would have signed him many months earlier. The only way Malkin was staying for another season was if he played well and if the Penguins overcame the odds by making the playoffs. Malkin made it his mission to make both things happen. He didn’t want his time in Pittsburgh to end, just like most Penguins fans didn’t want to imagine the franchise without him.Kris Letang’s family lives in California, but he has not requested a trade to a team there. (Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images)Letang’s loyalty to the Penguins should never be questioned, either. His family lives in California now and has for years. To the best of my knowledge, he’s requested a trade to one of the California teams precisely zero times. He doesn’t want to go home to Montreal to play. He doesn’t want a retirement job in California. Just black and gold.Though it’s true Crosby, Malkin and Letang are loyal to each other and simply playing for the same team, it’s also true they are historically loyal to the only franchise they’ve ever known. In the second half of their careers, after they had won their championships, all three members of the big three could have chased banners elsewhere. Make no mistakes, all three of them are freakish competitors. Getting their names on the Cup again in Pittsburgh, at this point, is unlikely. They surely know this on some level. Yet they went down with the ship when the Penguins saw their playoff streak end in 2024. Two more seasons without reaching the postseason came and went.They never asked to be let out, instead preferring to still be around when a new wave of Penguins came along.This isn’t typical. Look at the landscape right now. Players are flexing their muscles like never before, and they’re receiving amounts of money like never before. There’s money to be made, much of it under the sunshine of a preferred climate. Yet the big three keep on ticking under those gray Pittsburgh skies.Maybe it’s an organizational thing, and the big three have learned from those who came before them.Mario Lemieux was owed nearly $30 million by the broke Penguins when he retired in 1997. Two years later, he took quite the financial chance by purchasing the team out of bankruptcy. Yes, he got his money back. And yes, he turned it into an even bigger fortune. Do not forget, however, how easy it would have been for Lemieux to play for another team when he came out of retirement, legally getting his money from Pittsburgh one way or the other.I’ve been told many times over the years the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs were prepared to offer him something north of $20 million annually to switch teams. Here’s a little-known fact: He never really wanted to be the owner of the Penguins, or of any team. He was never interested in being a businessman. It’s the only way he could have gotten his money and the Penguins could have remained in Pittsburgh. He did what he had to do for himself and for the franchise.Jaromir Jagr was a Penguins icon who did play elsewhere. But let’s not forget the events of May 2, 1999, when Jagr, playing with a severe groin injury, won a series on his own. When asked about it years later, he said he played because the Penguins were leaving Pittsburgh if they didn’t win that series against New Jersey. They needed the revenue of another playoff series, and Jagr knew it. So he played for Pittsburgh. And when he was traded, it wasn’t by choice, but by financial reality.Believe it or not, the days of Crosby, Malkin and Letang are coming to an end. All good things do.There will never be anything like this again, though. Three players, on the same team, for more than two decades. They’re the first to ever accomplish that in the history of North American professional sports. They’ll be the last.For every Connor McDavid who stays in Edmonton or Alex Ovechkin who stays in Washington, there are countless great players who move on, who want more money, fewer taxes, more power.Crosby, Malkin and Letang just want to play here.