Matt Cullen knew the exact moment he stopped being his sons’ favorite player.

It was around the end of his two-decade NHL career, when he joined the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 2015-16 season.

“Until then, the boys would always wear my jersey,” Cullen said, laughing. “Then we got to Pittsburgh and they wanted a (Sidney) Crosby jersey. One wanted an (Evgeni) Malkin. I’m like, ‘I’m out now.’”

Brooks, Wyatt and Joey Cullen had very unique childhoods, growing up around NHL dressing rooms. Matt, 49, said his sons were at the right age during the Penguins’ 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup runs to be part of the pre-scout video when he was at home. They did online school while at Pittsburgh’s practice facility.

“If any of them got in any trouble, the teacher would make them run a lap around the rink,” Matt said. “(Penguins coach) Mike Sullivan would say, ‘Oh, Joey is in trouble today, he’s taking a lap.’”

Now, Cullen will get more than a front-row seat in helping his boys chase their own NHL dreams — it’ll be a hands-on role. Cullen was named director of player development for the University of Minnesota hockey team this past summer, joining new coach Brett Larson’s staff.

All three of Cullen’s sons have committed to the Gophers, with Wyatt and Brooks incoming freshmen this fall, and Joey, the youngest and a top prospect for the 2028 NHL Draft, to join after some time at the United States National Development Program.

It feels like a full-circle moment for Matt, whose father, Terry, coached him and his two brothers growing up in Moorhead, Minn. That experience helped shape how Matt navigated his own path with his boys.

“We grew up in a hockey house,” Cullen told me on a recent episode of the “Fellowship of the Rink” podcast. “My dad loved the game, teaching the game. We talked hockey a lot, had a backyard rink. Growing up in the background and the kids growing up in NHL locker rooms and being around playoff runs and watching everything I was doing and studying my teammates and living or dying with every season with every team I was on, they had some unique experiences.

“I was always happy they loved the game because that was all I could teach. They love the game, they love talking and watching hockey. It reminds me of my childhood, watching the boys grow up together and train together in the summer like I did with my brothers. The game has been great to us — I love being part of it with them.”

Cullen played 21 NHL seasons with eight teams, including his hometown Minnesota Wild. He won the Stanley Cup three times: twice with Pittsburgh and once, in 2006, with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s been busy since his retirement, spending seven seasons as a development coach with the Penguins (and learning from different management groups) and then having a stint as an assistant coach at his old high school, Moorhead.

When Larson took over for Bob Motzko at Minnesota in March, he reached out to Cullen to see if he’d be part of his staff in some capacity. Cullen knew Larson from their connection at St. Cloud State, where Cullen played and Larson coached. Larson recruited Cullen’s sons Brooks and Wyatt, so he knows the family well.

Cullen said he first wanted to make sure it was okay for his boys if he was so active in the program, and they were “100 percent” behind it. And the role seemed like a great mix of what Cullen enjoys: one-on-one coaching and teaching with players, from on ice to in the video room.

“I’ve had a lot of different experiences since I retired, from coaching and managing and sitting in the player development group with the Penguins,” Cullen said. “So when this came up, it gave me the opportunity to use all the experiences I’ve had in the game, through playing and the other side of coaching. It gives me a breadth of experience to share with the guys. They’re all on a path, all want to make the NHL and maximize their time at the U and win a national championship. All these things are exciting to me.”

Cullen experienced a bucket-list moment in June when Wyatt heard his name called at the 2026 NHL Draft, getting picked No. 10 by the Nashville Predators. It brought Cullen back to his draft day 30 years ago, in 1996, when he was taken in the second round by Anaheim in a packed arena in St. Louis. Wyatt didn’t have to wait nearly as long to get picked, and that it was by one of Cullen’s former teams made it extra sweet.

“It was really cool,” Cullen said. “It was a lot bigger than I expected. It hits you pretty quickly — all of a sudden you’re in Buffalo. You go through that and it gives you an appreciation for how much goes into it. As a parent you see your kid go through a lot of ups and downs, and for Wyatt there’s been a lot of struggles the past couple years, being his first year playing against USHL competition as a 5-foot-8, 140-pound kid … You get to see everything they do behind the scenes.”

The Cullen family joined Wyatt, right, at the 2026 NHL Draft, where he was selected by the Nashville Predators. (Courtesy of Matt Cullen)

When asked about the strategy on recruiting son Joey, Cullen laughed: “Does he want dinner?”

Cullen said he gave his son some space when it came to choosing his own path, but his overall message to Joey is what he would tell any incoming recruit about coming to Minnesota.

“We talk about what we have and what we have planned from a development standpoint,” Cullen said. “What we’re trying to implement in Minnesota. We’re trying to make this as close to the NHL as you can make it at the college level. Yes, there are elements of school and guys take that seriously, but the rest of the time we’re trying to develop you into NHL players. Every player that comes to Minnesota, that’s their goal. My biggest job is to make sure the guys know they’ll get everything they need to go as far as they want to go. That’s the sell.”

The Gophers, just three years removed from losing in the national title game in overtime, are coming off a down season in which they went 11-22-3 and missed the NCAA tournament. That led to the departure of their long-time coach in Motzko. The program hasn’t won a national title since 2002.

While blue-blood programs like Minnesota in the past might have bet on most of the best players from their state coming there based on their reputation, the landscape is changing in the NCAA, especially with the transfer portal, NIL and eligibility of CHL players. Cullen said the NIL is a “whole other element,” and it’s “honestly like managing an NHL team — you have a little bit of a salary cap you’re working with and you have to be intelligent about how you go about it.”

Cullen knows the Gophers must adjust their recruiting philosophy if they want to reach that elite level.

“You have to,” Cullen said. “That’s one of Larson’s directives, is we have to do more. We want to be more active all over. The hockey world is more competitive now for players than it’s ever been. It starts at the junior hockey level. There are options for kids. It’s a great time to be a player because there are a lot of options.

“To compete at the college level now, teams are everywhere — they’re in Canada, they’re in Europe, they’re in Minnesota. For us to continue to be successful and take the next step, we have to be really active and I think that’s one thing Larson has really pushed. We have to put in a lot of work to get players. Probably years ago, when I was coming through, it was assumed you’d get the Minnesota kids. We have to put in the work to get them.”