Now the Bruins know they need to win one for Recchi

Mark Recchi wants to do this in another uniform this season.

Future Hall-of-Fame winger Mark Recchi, who re-signed with the Boston Bruins for a one-year, $1 million deal yesterday, has already given his teammates all the inspiration they need and we’re still two months away from training camp.

The 20-year veteran and two-time Stanley Cup winner made it clear during a conference call today that this will probably be his last pursuit of career Cup No. 3.

“I’ve got to be honest with you, I think this is probably going to be it,” said Recchi from his offseason home in Pittsburgh. “I want to go out and I want to have another big one. I want to finish it off right. I want to go out and try and win another championship. I want to help the team be successful. And I would say this is probably it.”

Recchi’s statement would lead you to believe he might’ve called it quits had the Bruins fulfilled their goal of winning the Cup this spring after capturing the top seed in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. Despite Recchi’s best efforts — 3-3-6 totals in 11 games and hard-nosed play while battling the pain of a kidney stone — the Bruins came up short in the second round. So it’s time to chase the most famous trophy in sports again. If the Bruins do end their almost-40-year Cup drought,Recchi’s going to make sure he’s a major factor in the historical victory.

“It’s been a great run, but I want to give it one more chance,” he explained. “I love the opportunity in Boston. I’m going to go out there and lay everything on the line this season and see where that gets us. And hopefully at the end of it, I’m hoisting (the Cup) again and I can sail into the sunset happily.”

Recchi said he had recently decided he wanted to play again and told Boston general manager Peter Chiarelli that Boston was his first choice. Chiarelli, who had told Recchi at the player’s exit interview that he wished he could sign him on the spot, had to then see how some things were going to shake out under the salary cap. Once free agency opened Wednesday, things between the Bruins and Recchi’s camp quickly came together.

One would expect Recchi to be back on the Bruins’ third line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Chuck Kobasew and parked in front of the net on Boston’s power play. But obviously things can change, and right off the top of the season the Bruins are going to have to find line combinations that work without right winger Phil Kessel and center David Krejci, who are both expected to miss as much as a month or two while recovering from their offseason surgeries.

“But that all evolves from training camp and what the coach thinks and I know you’ve got to go earn your ice time. You can’t just have it handed to you. For 20 years I’ve done it that way and I’m going to go in there and do the same thing,” said Recchi.

Recchi’s pursuit of one last Cup will be helped by a group of teammates who he said all went home extremely disappointed after the loss to Carolina. He expects this season’s club to return extra hungry and now he knows his cohorts can put his desire to finish on top on their list of motivational tools.