“Candidates for election as Honoured Members in the player category shall be chosen on the basis of their playing ability, sportsmanship, character and their contribution to their team or teams and to the game of hockey in general”
As a first time eligible candidate, Mark Recchi is an interesting case for the 2014 Hockey Hall of Fame Induction. This is a player who has longevity, statistics, and championship winning seasons equal to or better than most honoured members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and yet there are some who still do not view him in the same light as many of those other great players. One of the main reasons for that is that Recchi was never “The Man” on any of the teams he played for, yet his contributions to those teams were paramount to their success.
Mark Louis Recchi was drafted in the 4th round, 67th overall of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was called up and down from the minors the majority of his first year as a professional before sticking with the Penguins full time during the 1989-90 season. In that season he would collect 30 goals and 67 points in 74 games. The next season, 1990-91, he would have a break-out year in which he notched 40 goals and 113 points in 78 games and in the playoffs added another 10 goals and 34 points to help Pittsburgh win their first ever Stanley Cup.
Recchi winning the Cup as a young Pittsburgh Penguin
The Pittsburgh team that Recchi won with had the likes of Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr, Bryan Trottier, Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy, Tom Barrasso and Joe Mullen on it, all of whom are or could be considered to be Hall of Fame players. So needless to say with the abundance of talent that team had, they could afford to trade Mark Recchi along with Brian Benning and a 1992 1st round pick (Jason Bowen) to the Philadelphia Flyers for Rick Tocchet, Kjell Samuelsson, and Ken Wregget during the 1992 season. This deal helped fill in some pieces that allowed Pittsburgh their shot at a second Stanley Cup win in 1992, while setting up the Flyers future for half a decade.
With the Flyers, Recchi was put on a line with Eric Lindros and Brent Fedyk forming the “Crazy Eights Line” due to the fact that that the numbers they wore were 8, 88, and 18 respectively. During the 1992-93 season Recchi had 53 goals and 123 points, a Flyers single season record. In this first stint with the Flyers, however, the team did not make the playoffs. So during the 1995 season, Recchi was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens for John Leclair, Eric Desjardins, and Gilbert Dionne, a deal would cement the Flyers future of a powerhouse for years to come.
Recchi had two stints with the Flyers for a total of 10 years
In Montreal, the Habs hoped that Recchi would help re-tool the organization to become a playoff threat as they were in 1993 when they won their last Stanley Cup. Les Habitant did return to the playoffs during his time in Montreal, however they could not get past the second round. By the trade deadline of the 2000 season, the Flyers re-acquired Recchi for Danius Zubrus, a 2nd round pick in 1999 (Matt Carkner) and a 6th round pick in 2000 (Scott Selig), hoping he would be the piece to put them over the top to win the Cup.
Philly would be home to Recchi for the next five years. Over that time the Flyers had enough big name talent and size to be considered a Stanley Cup contender every one of those years Recchi was there. Along with Recchi, he played with Lindros, Keith Primeau, John LeClair, Jeremy Roenick, Tony Amonte, Adam Oates, Rod Brind’Amour, and Simon Gagne. None of these players were considered to be “The Guy”, but all stars during their time in the game. During this period, the Flyers would only go so far to make it to the Conference Finals in 2000 and 2004 losing to the New Jersey Devils in six games in 2000 and the Tampa Bay Lightning in 7 games in 2004. Seeing the window for the Flyers to win would be closing after the 2005 lockout, Mark decided to move on from Philly as a free agent to go back to go back to his original team, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins would bring Recchi in, along with Gary Roberts, to help mentor young stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. In that first year, however, the Penguins were not very good so Recchi ended up getting traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline for Niklas Nordgren, Krystofer Kolanos and a 2nd round pick in the 2007 draft (Kevin Marshall), in order to help push Carolina’s Stanley Cup push. During the 25 games in the playoffs, Recchi would record 7 goals and 16 points to help the Hurricanes win their first Stanley Cup, and Recchi’s 2nd of his career. After that season, Recchi would return to Pittsburgh for a third time as a free agent where he would score 24 goals and 68 points. However, the Penguins were still not ready to contend as they were ousted in the first round by the Ottawa Senators.
Recchi’s second Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, much later in his career
The next season, Recchi was showing signs of his skills declining with age. Due to salary cap problems, the Penguins could not afford to wait for him to snap out of his slump. With this Recchi was put on waivers by the Penguins and was claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers. Recchi finished the 2008-09 season without incident in Atlanta and ended up signing as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa had the same idea as the Pittsburgh Penguins in which they hoped Recchi would help tutor Steven Stamkos in the lessons of being a professional hockey player. The Lightning were not ready to compete for the Stanley Cup quite yet, so they ended up trading Recchi at the trade deadline to the Boston Bruins for Matt Lashoff, Martin Karsums, and a 2010 2nd round draft pick (Alex Petrovic).
Boston is where Recchi would end his career. Upon arriving there in 2009, the Bruins were, and still are, a perennial contender for the Stanley Cup. In his first year with the Bruins, they made it to the second round of the playoffs as the #1 seed by sweeping the 8th seeded Canadiens. However, they would lose to the underdog 6th seeded Carolina Hurricanes in seven games. The next year, Recchi would spend the full season in Boston scoring 18 goals and 43 points. In the playoffs, they would surpass the Northeast division champion Buffalo Sabres in 6 games in the first round. However, in the second round they would become the third team in NHL history lose a series after leading it three games to none against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Ending his career as a Bruin, winning the Stanley Cup in 2011
In the 2011 season, Recchi would again play the entire season for Boston, increasing his scoring to 14 goals and 48 points. This time there was no stopping the Bruins, they dispatched the Montreal Canadiens in seven games in the first round. Then in the second round they would take revenge on the Flyers by sweeping them in four games. In the Eastern Conference Final, the Bruins would defeat an up and coming Tampa Bay Lightning team in seven games, to move on to face the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final. In what was one of the most hard fought Stanley Cup Finals since the 2005 lockout, the Bruins defeated the Canucks in seven games to win the Stanley Cup. It would be the first time the Bruins won the Stanley Cup since 1972 and the franchises fifth, while for Recchi, it would be his third Cup with a third different team and then announce his retirement during the Stanley Cup celebration in an interview with Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada.
If you look purely at the stats, Recchi’s induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame is a no brainer. He has won 3 Stanley Cups for three different teams, one of only 10 guys to do it in what is considered to be modern day NHL history and the 8th player to do so in three different decades (1991, 2006, 2011). His 1,533 regular season points places him 12th all-time in NHL history as well as his 577 goals places him 19th all-time. His 1,652 regular season games are also the fourth greatest number in NHL history behind only Gordie Howe, Mark Messier, and Ron Francis. All of these numbers place him among the greats that are already in the Hall of Fame.
Recchi’s tattoo indicating each year he won the Stanley Cup. He would be the 8th player in NHL history to win 3 Stanley Cups in three different decades
While Recchi was recognized as a star in the league, he was never really given credit for all that he could do. He did not win any major individual award and was only named to the year-end all-star teams once in 1992 as a 2nd team all-star. In each of his situations, the pressure was never squarely on him as he was meant for support for the real core part of the team. This can be clearly seen early in his career when he played with Lemieux, Jagr, and Lindros and later in his career when he took on rôles mentoring Crosby, Malkin, and Stamkos. I believe this is why some people don’t put him in the same light as other first ballot nominees this year, led by Mike Modano from my previous article.
One of the things that shows how valuable his teams thought Recchi, however, was is based on the trades that he was a part of. When he was traded from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, it helped Pittsburgh win their 2nd of back-to-back Stanley Cups and he helped a relatively young Flyer team learn how to win. When Recchi was traded to Montreal, it helped the Flyers be a contender for almost a decade, while Recchi’s return to Philly helped cement that. This tells me how greatly respected Recchi was within the NHL right from his beginnings in the league. Teams wanted him and felt that he would be a key piece of bringing in the ultimate prize.
Later in the month, Recchi has as much of a shot at getting the phone call from the Hockey Hall of Fame as anyone who is eligible. His name is stamped all over the NHL’s history book, where all he’s done is win and gaining the respect of all around him. His name isn’t as flashy as others, but his hard work, character, sportsmanship and playing ability should be proof enough for his eventual entrance into Hockey’s greatest club.
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I know I’m late to the party on this but I wanted to throw my Stanley Cup Final prediction in here. I have the Los Angeles Kings defeating the New York Rangers in Six Games.
Let me know who you think should be in the Hall by commenting, sending me an email at
[email protected] or following me on Twitter @Kirshenblatt.
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HHOF Making the Case:
Steve Larmer
Reggie Leach
Alexander Mogilny
Pat Quinn
Kerry Fraser
Paul Henderson
Chris Osgood
Marguerite Norris
Eric Lindros
Pat Burns
Curtis Joseph
Theo Fleury
Carl Brewer
Don Cherry
Mike Modano
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