Recchi decides to give Bruins another shot
Mark Recchi joined the Boston Bruins hoping to win his fourth Stanley Cup ring. He decided to stay to take another shot at it.
The NHL's sixth-leading active goal scorer signed a 1-year deal yesterday to return to the Bruins.
Recchi, 41, obtained in a March 4 trade from Tampa Bay, said 4 days after the Bruins were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs that he might retire if they didn't offer him a contract.
"He was of the mind that he had such a wonderful experience that if the club would like him to come back, he'd consider it," Recchi's agent, Richard Curran, told the Associated Press. "He wanted to come back and finish what they started."
The Bruins acquired Recchi as they tried to improve for the stretch drive. Boston ended up with the best record in the Eastern Conference but lost to Carolina in a seven-game, second-round series.
Recchi - who played in parts of nine seasons with the Flyers - has been part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams: Pittsburgh in 1991 and '92 and Carolina in 2006. He has 545 goals and 897 assists for 1,442 points in 1,490 regular-season games for seven clubs. He had six goals and 10 assists in 18 regular-season games with Boston.
Curran thought Recchi might have kept playing even if the Bruins didn't bring him back.
"There were so many teams that expressed interest, a couple in particular, that he might have played," Curran said. "He still has lots of gas in his tank."
The Bruins wanted Recchi back after seeing the 20-year veteran's ability, determination and influence on younger players. He played the final game against Carolina after having surgery to remove a kidney stone the previous night.
"Obviously, I was pretty sore," Recchi said. "I don't wish it on my worst enemy, but we all play through stuff. It's no big deal."
Recchi ranks 14th in NHL history in games and points, 18th in assists and 26th in goals. Among active players, he is second in points and assists, third in games and sixth in goals.
Last season, his totals in 80 games with Tampa Bay and Boston were 23 goals and 38 assists. He added three goals and three assists in 11 playoff games.
Noteworthy
* Rob Scuderi signed a 4-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings, leaving the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins without their top defensive pairing.
Scuderi, who teamed with Hal Gill to form a shutdown tandem on the blue line, led the Penguins with a plus-23 rating and had a career-high 16 points in 81 regular-season games. He also had a team-high 164 blocked shots.
He and Gill faced the challenge of holding down the opposition's biggest offensive threats, and they were good enough to help the Penguins win the Stanley Cup for the third time. Gill left Pittsburgh on Wednesday, the opening day of the NHL's free-agent signing season, for a 2-year, $4.5 million contract with Montreal.
* Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez might soon be skating together again. The former New Jersey Devils forwards are suddenly teammates for a second time, the newest additions to the restructured Montreal Canadiens.
Gomez was acquired as part of a six-player trade on Tuesday, and Gionta was signed as a free agent yesterday. Each player had his best season in 2005-06 with the Devils, when center Gomez had 33 goals and 51 assists and winger Gionta scored 48 goals and added 41 assists.
Montreal also signed defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Hal Gill during its spending spree.
* The Dallas Stars have signed free-agent defenseman Karlis Skrastins to a 2-year deal worth $2.75 million. The Stars gave Skrastins, 34, $1.1 million for the 2009 season and $1.65 million for 2010. Skrastins played in 80 games for the Florida Panthers last season and had four goals, 14 assists, 18 points and led the team with 171 blocked shots.
* The Florida Panthers have signed defenseman Jordan Leopold to a 1-year deal. Panthers assistant general manager Randy Sexton had said on Wednesday that the chances of signing Leopold appeared "remote." Also, the Panthers announced that defenseman Clay Wilson had signed a 2-year contract.
* The Atlanta Thrashers signed free-agent forward Nik Antropov to a 4-year, $16 million contract, setting up a reunion with Ilya Kovalchuk. Antropov, 29, played with Kovalchuk in Russia during the NHL lockout. Antropov set a career high with 59 points (28 goals) with Toronto and the New York Rangers last season. He was traded to the Rangers on March 4.
* The Chicago Blackhawks signed John Madden, adding a veteran center who has spent his entire 10-year career with the New Jersey Devils. Madden, 36, signed a 1-year contract. Terms were not disclosed.
* Free-agent defenseman Adrian Aucoin, 35, has signed a 1-year contract with the Phoenix Coyotes, giving the team a veteran presence on and off the ice. The former All-Star had 10 goals and 24 assists in 81 games last season with Calgary. *
