When Hall of Fame forward Mark Recchi hung up his skates, he did it as a member of the Boston Bruins, and it was immediately following him hoisting the Stanley Cup for the third time.
After winning the Cup in 2011, Recchi settled in Pittsburgh, but it wasn’t long before seven-time All-Star made his way back to the NHL as the player development coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014.
Recchi spent six seasons with the Penguins before moving on to the New Jersey Devils, where he served as an assistant coach for two seasons before being relieved of his duties.
So, where does Recchi go from there? He recently went on OVERTIME Podcast with TSN’s Gino Reda and disclosed what the future holds.
“I think the game has been so good to me,” Recchi said. “Actually this has been refreshing because I’ve spent a lot of time with my family. I got three older kids who are off in college so I go see them a little bit but I’d probably like to get back into management if I could.”
When most think of management, it usually means general manager or president of hockey operations, but not for Recchi. He prefers something closer to the game.
“I love development, I love player development. Loved to be a part of that process helping young guys and working with young guys,” Recchi explained. “That’s where I really can help organizations and especially because it’s so important now working in the cap era.
“You need to develop players and you need to work with them. I think that’s really the direction I’d like to go but you never know. Maybe something coaching will come along again. I’m not really sure. I’m starting to put some feelers out now and get my name back in the hat and see what can happen moving forward.”
Recchi didn’t mention which teams he’s reached out to, but you have to wonder if the Bruins could be high on the list since he last played in Boston and was part of the Stanley Cup-winning team. The front office has a lot of decisions to make regarding free agents this summer and developing young players like Fabian Lysell, Marc McLaughlin and Matthew Poitras is a top priority with the lack of cap space the Bruins have.
Who better to develop those players than a player with the pedigree Recchi has?
