Monday, June 20, 2011

Farewell Mark Recchi



With the 2011 season coming to a close and the Bruins being crowned Stanley Cup Champions, Mark Recchi has announced that he will be leaving a winner and retiring. Recchi has been my favorite player in the league since I was a little kid and am sad to see him go, but at age 43 he milked every last drop out of his outstanding career. The Recchinball was drafted 67th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1988 but didn't start playing full time in the NHL until the following year. In his rookie season, Recchi put up 30 goals and 67 points in 74 games, solid for a first year player. But in his second season with the Penguins, Recchi recorded 40 goals and 113 points in 78 games. In 1991-92 Recchi was traded across the state to the Philadelphia Flyers where he played until 1994-95. While with the Flyers, he put up 100+ points twice, 92-93 (123) and 93-94 (107). During the 94-95 season Recchi was again traded, this time to the Montreal Canadiens.

He played parts of 5 years in Montreal and though his numbers were not as high as they were in the past, he was no slouch either. Montreal traded him back to the Flyers in 98-99 where he continued to have success in the orange and black until 03-04. After the lockout Recchi returned to the Penguins only to be traded before the deadline to the Carolina Hurricanes. In 20 regular season games with the Canes Recchi amassed only 4 goals and 7 points, but put up 16 points in 25 playoff games on his way to leading the Hurricanes to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Recchi then bounced around Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay between 06-09 before settling in Boston at the 09 trade deadline. Mark Recchi played a total of 1652 games, scoring 577 goals and amassing 1533 points, in 190 playoff games he had 61 goals and 148 points.


Mark Recchi played his heart out in his 22 NHL seasons and will surely be missed by hockey fans throughout the world. Recchi is one of a select group of players that have won a Stanley Cup in three different decades, all of which were with a different team. Recchi was a true leader and a true winner and a real role model on and off the ice. I hope that, just as it is in Kamloops, Recchi's number will be retired one day in the NHL. Farewell Mark Recchi, you will be missed.

1 comment:

  1. Great career even if I didn't like him. Can't argue with what he accomplished. Playing in the NHL my whole life that's pretty amazing

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