February 1, 1968 is the birth date of one of the more popular and successful Flyers in its history. A hard working winger with a lighting fast wrist shot, his 123 points as a Flyer in the 1992-93 season is still a team record to this day.
Happy 47th Birthday to Mark Recchi.
At age 20, he broke into the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1988-89 season after being selected in the 4th round (67th overall) in the 1988 NHL Draft. In the 89-90 season, Mark was part of a fast rising Penguins squad that featured Mario Lemieux, Rob Brown and Kevin Stevens. Mark scored 30 goals that season and was well on his way to stardom. His 1990-91 season was better yet, as he hit the 40 goal mark, adding 73 assists and helped lead the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup, defeating the Minnesota North Stars four games to two.
In the 1991-92 season, the Penguins felt they needed a slightly different mix to get back to the Stanley Cup finals. In a blockbuster February trade, the Penguins traded Recchi, along with defenseman Brian Benning and a 1992 first round pick (from Los Angeles, Jason Bowen) to the Flyers for the rugged Rick Tocchet, defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, goalie Ken Wregget and a 1992 3rd round pick.
Recchi played 22 games with the Flyers, scoring 10 goals and 17 assists, however the team did not make the playoffs. Although the Flyers were younger and more skilled with the trade, the calculated risk taken by Pittsburgh was rewarded with their second consecutive Stanley Cup Championship. They were dominant once again and pasted the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4-0 Finals sweep.
In 1992-93, Recchi, wearing number eight, teamed with and young Eric Lindros (88) and winger Brent Fedyk (18) to create the "Crazy Eights" line. This would be the best statistical season of Recchi’s career as he scored 53 goals, adding 70 assists for a Flyers record 123 points, surpassing Bobby Clarke’s 119 point total of 1975-76. Mark would hit the 40 goal mark once again in 93-94 for the Flyers, however, with awful defense and subpar goaltending, the playoffs eluded him for a third straight year.
On February 9th, 1995, Recchi's first stint as a Flyer ended with a trade to Montreal as the Flyers picked up John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne. After spending four years north of the border, the Flyers traded back for Recchi, sending first-round bust Dainius Zubrus and two picks to the Canadiens.
In his second stint with Philadelphia, Recchi reached the 20-goal mark in all five seasons and his luck improved slightly as the Flyers made the playoffs all five seasons too. However, Recchi and the Flyers would not reach the Stanley Cup Finals. It had now been 13 years since he drank from Lord Stanley’s Cup, a taste that as a 22-year-old, he missed.
He signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in July of 2004, however that season was lost to the lockout. In 2005-06, he was with the Penguins until a trade deadline deal was made with Carolina to get Recchi for their playoff run. Now as a Hurricane, he was reunited with former Flyer Rod Brind’Amour as they led Carolina to their first ever Stanley Cup, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. At age 37, he had won his second Cup.
Recchi bounced around the next two years, from a third stint with Pittsburgh, to Atlanta and to a decent Tampa Bay squad. His break came in March 2009 in a trade deadline deal. He was sent to the Boston Bruins from Tampa Bay and was now on a team on the cusp of a championship run.
That season, they were eliminated by some old friends in Carolina. In 2010, they were looking to go farther, but the improbable collapse of that playoff year to the Flyers after winning the first three games made Mark think long and hard about a return to Boston for the 2010-11 season. At 42, did he have and did Boston have what was needed to win a Cup?
In the spring of 2011, his questions were answered. After a 46-win season and a semi-final sweep of the Flyers as redemption, Boston lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time in over 40 years, beating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games. It had been 20 years since Recchi’s first Cup as a Penguin. He had a little more grey to his thinning hair and a lot more grey to the trademark playoff beard. He truly had come full circle in his NHL career. This historic playoff run with Boston was the one he would end his career with, scoring 5 goals and adding 9 assists in 25 grueling games.
Recchi enjoyed individual success as a Flyer, scoring 627 points in 602 regular season games spanning 10 seasons. He hit the 20 goal mark in seven of those seasons and eclipsed the 100 point mark three times.
Overall, Recchi played 21 years in the NHL. Here are some of his career statistics.
- 1652 NHL Regular Season games, which ranks fourth all time, behind only Gordie Howe, Mark Messier and Ron Francis
- 577 Goals, ranks him 19th all-time in the NHL (Jarome Iginla is one behind him)
- 956 Assists, ranks him 14th all time in the NHL
- 1533 Points, ranks him 12th all time in the NHL
- 91 Game winning Goals, ranks him 15th all time in the NHL
- Seven appearances in the NHL All-Star Game
- Three-time Stanley Cup Champion
Mike Watson is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @Mwats_99
