The Hockey Hall of Famer worked as an assistant to Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan for three seasons. His contract, along with assistants Jacques Martin and Sergei Gonchar, were not renewed Aug. 12 following the Penguins' four-game loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
Recchi joins Lindy Ruff, who was hired as Devils coach July 9. Ruff called Recchi shortly after he left the Penguins to ask if he still was interested in coaching.
"I said, 'Yeah, absolutely,'" Recchi said. "Then I started looking at the Devils roster, and it just really excited me. I'm looking at helping Lindy, but I'm also looking at learning from Lindy as well. You never stop learning in this game, and I'm going to continue to learn and continue to work my tail off to grow as a coach."
Centers Jack Hughes, 19, and Nico Hischier, 21, are the building blocks of the second-youngest team in the NHL, with an average age of 26.05 years, behind the Columbus Blue Jackets (26.01). Recchi was 38 during his third tenure with the Penguins in 2006-07, when he played with Sidney Crosby, who was 19, and Evgeni Malkin, who was 20, and he was a Pittsburgh development coach in 2016 and 2017 when Crosby and Malkin helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup each season.
"I've been around a lot of really good players," Recchi said. "It's been fun to work with them and play with them and help them. I'm excited about this opportunity with these young players and listening to how they see the game."
The Devils were not one of the 24 teams that competed in the Qualifiers. They were 28-29-12 (.493 points percentage) and finished 14th in the 16-team Eastern Conference. In eight seasons since advancing to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, a six-game loss to the Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey has made the Stanley Cup Playoffs once, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the 2018 Eastern Conference First Round.
"I think communicating now is more important than ever," Recchi said. "These kids want to understand. They want to talk to you about it, they want to understand how to get through it, and I think that's the important thing that I'm going to be able to bring, and I hope I can. I really want to help these young players and the New Jersey Devils to build something special here."
Recchi primarily worked with the power play for the Penguins, who were third in the NHL on the man-advantage during his tenure as an assistant (23.8 percent). The Devils were 20th during that same time (19.1 percent).
"The puck has to move, and every team has different structure," Recchi said. "I think we can have a real good structure on New Jersey. You've got a guy like Jack Hughes who can, I think ... be a quarterback on one of the units, and you just kind of go from there."
Inducted into to the Hall of Fame in 2017, Recchi won the Stanley Cup five times, including three as a player (1991 Penguins, 2006 Carolina Hurricanes, 2011 Boston Bruins). He was 43 years old when he became the oldest player to score in the Stanley Cup Final (Game 2, 2011). He was named an assistant to Sullivan on July 11, 2017.
"We are extremely excited to add Mark to our coaching staff, where his experience as a player, coach and in development will be invaluable," Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said. "His work with the power play and managing personnel in Pittsburgh are skills that will benefit our group moving forward. Mark's leadership, communication abilities, patience and presence will be integral for the growth of our young core."
Recchi and Fitzgerald worked together with the Penguins in 2014-15, when Fitzgerald was assistant GM and Recchi was a development coach.
The Penguins hired former Washington Capitals coach Todd Reirden as an assistant Sept. 2. Martin was named an assistant for the New York Rangers on Aug. 31.
NHL.com staff writer Jon Lane contributed to this report
