King on Recchi: Future behind the bench?
Posted January 24, 2012 5:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
If the water’s good for coaching, Mark Recchi will dip his toes in before deciding if he wants to take the plunge.
The former Stanley Cup champion will be one of the two celebrity coaches behind the bench at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game next week in Kelowna, B.C., as head coach of Team Cherry. He’ll have a safety blanket in the form of Kelowna head coach Ryan Huska, who will serve as his associate coach.
“On a technical side, I’m glad Huska’s beside me because it’s a little different than 10-year-olds, but I’m excited,” Recchi said on a conference call on Tuesday.
Now retired after winning the Stanley Cup as a member of the Boston Bruins last season, Recchi is enjoying his retirement in Pittsburgh, spending part of his time coaching his kid’s team. Recchi can bask in watching the progression of his young pupils before teaching the next crop of the NHL’s young stars.
A part owner of the Kamloops Blazers, Recchi can envision a future working in the game he starred as a player. He’s just not quite sure whether that would come in the form of coaching or management.
“I like the building part more than I like probably the coaching at this point,” he said. “I’m thinking maybe more on that side, how to be part of building a team and being part of that excites me a little bit more right now. You never know, I might get back there and really enjoy it.”
And that, of course, is part of the reason Recchi answered the call when Bruce Hamilton, the Rockets’ owner, general manager, president and governor, presented him with the opportunity to coach in this game.
The game can been seen live across Rogers Sportsnet channels on Feb. 1
The top prospects game won’t only serve as a showcase of the many talented prospects eligible for this summer’s NHL draft, but provide Recchi the training ground and experience in coaching at the major junior level. If he catches the coaching bug, he hinted that it could become his next step in post-retirement.
“I’m going to get a good taste of it,” he said. “I do enjoy coaching in the minor hockey level. I’m really enjoying it and seeing the results and it’s something I’m not going to throw out. There could be one day where I do decide that I want to be part of a coaching staff and I want to be on the bench or working with the guys more so than just trying to build a team with management.”
Recchi currently stays at arm’s length with the Blazers, leaving the managerial decisions to GM Craig Bonner. His younger brother, Matt Recchi, is also the director of player personnel in Kamloops, so he maintains the line of communication with the team he co-owns, but is less involved in the day-to-day operations.
It wasn’t hard to see he already had his managerial hat on. There was much debate last season whether or not the draft’s second-overall pick, Tyler Seguin, should have returned to the Plymouth Whalers or learned in a smaller role with the Bruins. Recchi was remarkably candid in dissecting whether the decision helped or hindered Seguin’s growth.
“Tyler was complete, raw skill,” he said. “I wouldn’t say necessarily he was ready to play. Skill-wise, yes. But maturity-wise, he probably wasn’t ready. But the best thing was he was around a group of guys that taught him how to be a good pro and he learned a lot. You have to be willing to learn, which he was.
“He came in and obviously very high-end and he watched and he learned and he had some ups and downs and he had some times where he had to get humbled a bit, but that’s all part of growing up and maturing as a young man. Look at the response this year — he’s taken off. I always thought there were times last year I wished maybe he would have went back to juniors, but then you think about it — he wouldn’t have had a year of spending time helping him become more mature and more of a pro. They would have had to start right from the get-go this year and I don’t think you would have seen the results that you have now.”
A constant student of the game, Recchi’s dedication during his playing days enabled him to keep tabs on the young players coming into the NHL and learning how to defend against their strengths.
He first suited up for the New Westminster Bruins before joining the Blazers in 1986-87. He was drafted in the fourth round in 1988 after putting up 154 points in 62 games in Kamloops. There was no top prospects game for him then.
“It would have been great to be part of something like this at 17, but I wasn’t really a high-priority back then,” he said. “It is a great opportunity for these kids to get to a big stage like this.”
He’ll share the stage with those 40 prospects, who will be hoping this game becomes a springboard to their careers.
Should he enjoy coaching, this game could launch yet another career.
