Recchi coming back for another NHL season

Mark Recchi will be back for the Boston Bruins next season, according to the team's general manager.

The signing of Recchi, who will turn 43 next season, will be officially announced on Monday, GM Peter Chiarelli told the Boston Globe.

It is expected to be a one-year deal as Recchi enters his 21st full season. He played 15 games in 1988-89 before beginning his career in earnest the next season with Pittsburgh.

The Kamloops, B.C., native said last summer that he was entering his last NHL season, but what transpired exceeded even his expectations.

Recchi led his younger teammates with six goals in 13 playoff games for Boston. It followed a campaign where he played all 82 games, scoring 18 times with 25 assists.

Recchi moved past Hall of Famer Stan Mikita into 13th on the all-time points list. He enters next season with 1,485 points in 1,571 games, with 998 penalty minutes.

Boston acquired him a late-season trade in 2008-09. He's also played two stints for both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, as well as Montreal, Atlanta, and Carolina. He played on Stanley Cup winners with the Penguins and Hurricanes.

Recchi leads all active NHL players with 922 assists, and is second among those not yet retired with 563 goals, trailing only Teemu Selanne of Anaheim.

Boston traded for Florida forward Nathan Horton earlier this week and holds the No. 2 overall pick in Friday night's entry draft, which will likely net them a promising forward in Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin.