Bruins forward Mark Recchi will be returning to Boston within the next 10 days, but recently he had the chance to return to his roots in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Recchi, along with fellow NHLers Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan and Darryl Sydor are all investors in their former junior hockey club the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League. Recchi's brother Matt is the director of personnel for the Blazers and, two weeks ago, Recchi made the trek back to Kamloops to help Matt and the coaching staff with the start of Blazers training camp.
For Recchi, this was a chance to see in person the team he's helped build. It was also a good chance to get in a few skates before Bruins training camp begins in two weeks.
"It was nice to get out there, get the legs going," said Recchi, who mainly works on off-ice conditioning during the summers. "But what was really nice was to be able to see these kids and skate with them in person. I watch all the games online and I talk to my brother all the time so I'm in the loop. But to be here in person is great! I get to see how these kids skate, do drills and also get to know some of them, so it was a great experience."
But Recchi wasn't the only one who had a great experience. The players were thrilled to have the opportunity to skate and talk hockey with a possible future Hall of Famer.
"I remember what it was like to meet a pro player. To then get to skate with them is such a thrill, so yeah, they were pretty psyched and it was nice for them to get that experience," Recchi said. "You get to know the players, too, which is nice as well. It was a lot of fun."
The Blazers haven't made it past the conference or divisional quarterfinals since the 1998-99 season, but the new ownership and management staff — including Recchi's brother Matt — have really put an emphasis on scouting and feel they have taken the next step.
"Matt has done an amazing job putting this team together and building it up," Recchi said. "He travels everywhere you can imagine. He's always on some road in the middle of nowhere going to a rink in who knows where! But he does whatever it takes to find the right players and he has really given us a team we can be proud of and that has a good chance. There has been a lot of futility here, but we're on the right track again."
Recchi is also excited about the future of the team for which he plays in the NHL. He was thrilled to sign for another season with the Bruins and likes the moves GM Peter Chiarelli has made this summer.
"That's the main reason I stayed here, the direction this club is in," he said. "There's such a great young core here and the right coaching staff is in place for that core. We're really deep up front and I like the grit that [Steve] Begin will bring. On the back end, I think we've improved. Derek Morris is an upgrade and I think [Matt] Hunwick is in for a big year with the type of game he showed he could bring.
"In net, I think you've got a kid in Tuukka [Rask], whose time has finally arrived and obviously with the year Timmy [Thomas] had, we know what he can do. I just really like the team. Obviously we'll be even better if Phil [Kessel] signs, but we'll have to wait and see how that goes. But this is a really deep team."
The progression the Bruins have made in two years under Claude Julien is also impressive to Recchi and from what he's learned about this team, he believes that they can take the next step.
"You look at what they did making the playoffs and forcing Game 7 with Montreal two springs ago, and then what we did last spring, there's been a very solid progression," he pointed out. "As long as we don't get ahead of ourselves, we learn our lessons and we harness that confidence, we should be good."
