PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins had a specific vision last summer when they examined the rubble of a first-round sweep at the hands of the New York Islanders. General manager Jim Rutherford, coach Mike Sullivan and his staff then spent the offseason revamping a team it believed would be good enough to return to the Stanley Cup.

It worked during the regular season. Then, following a four-month break, it didn’t. The Penguins were outplayed by the seemingly overmatched Montreal Canadiens in the qualifying round.

The result was “puzzling” to Rutherford and “disappointing” to Sullivan. And it ended up costing assistants Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi their jobs. The team announced Wednesday all three would not have their contracts renewed.

“These guys are good coaches, and they’re my friends,” Sullivan said. “We’ve been through a lot together as a group. But when teams with high expectations such as ours don’t have success, then change is inevitable.”

Rutherford spoke Tuesday about the importance of helping an aging roster get younger.

“We just thought we needed to change the dynamic of our coaching staff,” Rutherford said.”’

Martin joined the Penguins in 2013 as an assistant under Dan Bylsma following head coaching stints in St. Louis, Ottawa, Montreal and Florida.

Gonchar, who played 20 years in the NHL as a defenseman — a run that included winning the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009 — became a full-time assistant for Pittsburgh in 2017.

Recchi, a three-time Cup winner during his 22-year career, joined Pittsburgh’s organization in 2014.