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Any hockey player who can play two decades in the NHL and tally over 500 career goals and 1,300 career points is a legend in his own right; yet while such was the case with Mark Recchi and Luc Robitaille, both wingers were perpetually underrated throughout their Hall of Fame careers, overshadowed by other legends and never quite considered among the very upper-echelon players in the league at any given point. However, there is something to be said for consistent, if understated excellence, so let us take a moment to appreciate the duo and at the same time, ponder the question:
Who was better – Mark Recchi or Luc Robitaille?
The Beginning
Though Recchi and Robitaille were standout junior hockey players in Canada, both were relatively unheralded mid-to-late round NHL draft picks who quickly exceeded expectations beginning in their rookie seasons.
A native of British Columbia, Recchi played junior hockey for his local team Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League (WHL) and was such a standout that his jersey number was eventually retired. In the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, he was drafted in the fourth round (67th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins and made 15 appearances in the 1988-1989 season to earn his first NHL points. As a full-time rookie in 1989-1990, Recchi tallied 30 goals and 37 assists for 67 points and a +6 +/- rating to finish fifth for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie.
Meanwhile, Robitaille grew up in Montreal and spent his junior hockey career with the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Considered to be a poor skater, he fell to the ninth round of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft, where he was picked 171st overall by the Los Angeles Kings; in fact, the Kings actually drafted Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Tom Glavine in the fourth round of the very same draft. Nevertheless, Robitaille continued to excel in the junior ranks and would eventually win Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Player of the Year in 1985-1986; today, the Luc Robitaille Trophy is given to the top goal-scoring QMJHL team annually. Following his junior career, he joined the Kings for the 1986-1987 season and went on to win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year with 45 goals and 39 assists for 84 points, albeit with a -19 +/- rating.
Career Comparison
Over the course of two decades apiece in the NHL, Recchi and Robitaille were both consistently outstanding players, though neither ever quite received the individual recognition merited by their accomplishments.
Though Recchi broke out as a star in 1990-1991 to the tune of 40 goals and a career-high 73 assists for 113 points with an even +/- rating to finish ninth for the Hart Trophy as MVP, he was traded in-state to the Philadelphia Flyers midway through the following season for Rick Tocchet and Kjell Samuelsson. Over the next few years, he played on a line with superstar center Eric Lindros and had some of his best statistical seasons; in fact, in back-to-back years, Recchi tallied 100+ points (after scoring 97 points combined during his 1991-1992 season across the Penguins and Flyers):
- 1992-1993: a career-high 53 goals plus 70 assists for a career-best and Flyers single-season record 123 points with a +1 +/- rating
- 1993-1994: 40 goals and 67 assists for 107 points with a -2 +/- rating
During the strike-shortened 1994-1995 season, Recchi was traded once again, this time to the Montreal Canadiens for John LeClair, Eric Desjardins, and Gilbert Dionne, where he continued to be a point-per-game producer, including 78 points in 1995-1996 and 80 pints in 1996-1997. Interestingly, the Flyers reacquired him in 1998-1999 for Dainius Zubrus and draft picks and he promptly returned to being one of the team’s top scorers – in 1999-2000, Recchi had 28 goals and a league-leading 63 assists for 91 points and a career-best +20 +/- rating, thus placing a career-best sixth for the Hart Trophy. However, as he progressed into his 30s, his production declined year-over-year to 77 points, followed by 64 points, and then 52 points in 2002-2003 before bouncing back to 75 points (26 goals and 49 assists with a +18 +/- rating) in his last season with Philadelphia in 2003-2004.
Upon returning from the lockout in 2005-2006, Recchi became a bit of a productive journeyman who often played for multiple teams each season, yet continued to score 50-60 points annually. In 2005-2006, he initially rejoined the Penguins (he had signed with them as a free agent in 2004), but was traded at the deadline to the Carolina Hurricanes; at the end of the season, he returned to Pittsburgh and had a 68-point year at age 38 in 2006-2007 (24 goals and 44 assists), including his 500th career goal. The next season, he was waived by the Penguins and claimed by the Atlanta Thrashers; though he would sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent in the offseason, Recchi was subsequently traded to the Boston Bruins, where he would spend the last two-and-a-half seasons of his career. Following two straight seasons of 40+ points for the Bruins, Recchi finally retired from the NHL at age 42 in 2010-2011, the last active player to have started his career in the 1980s.
As for Robitaille, he quietly became an underrated star in the hockey backwaters of Los Angeles, starting his career with eight straight seasons of 40+ goals; this included three seasons with 50+ goals and four seasons with 100+ points, as he was bolstered by the Kings’ trade for Wayne Gretzky at the end of the 1980s:
- 1987-1988: 53 goals and 58 assists for 111 points with a -9 +/- rating
- 1989-1990: 52 goals and 49 assists for 101 points with a +8 +/- rating
- 1991-1992: 44 goals and a career-high 63 assists for 107 points with a -4 +/- rating
- 1992-1993: a career-high 63 goals and 52 assists for a career-best 125 points with a +18 +/- rating; the goals and points were single-season records for a left wing, though the goals mark has since been surpassed by Alex Ovechkin
After declining to “only” 86 points (44 goals and 42 assists) in 1993-1994, Robitaille was traded to the Penguins for the aforementioned Tocchet (who had been acquired in the Recchi trade) and a draft pick; a year later, he was then traded to the New York Rangers for Sergei Zubov and Petr Nedved. By his own high standards, Robitaille had a couple of subpar years in New York before being reacquired by the Kings in 1997 for Kevin Stevens. Following a 40-point season in 1997-1998, he recaptured his previous Kings form and had three straight seasons of 30+ goals and 70+ points, including a resurgent 2000-2001 year that saw him put up 37 goals and 51 assists for 88 points with a +10 +/- rating, his highest scoring output since the record-setting 1992-1993 season.
However, as a free agent, Robitaille signed with the Detroit Red Wings to try and win a Stanley Cup; though he succeeded (more on that shortly), his individual numbers suffered and after two years in the Motor City, he returned to Los Angeles for a third and final stint. In his final two seasons, which bookended the 2004-2005 lockout, Robitaille’s numbers were far below his prime, though he did reach 500 career goals and would later surpass Marcel Dionne for most goals scored in Kings history. Upon his retirement after the 2005-2006 season at age 39, Robitaille was the career leader among left wings for both goals and points.
By virtue of his longer NHL career (three seasons and 200+ more games), Recchi tallied more career assists and points than Robitaille, but the latter scored more goals with a better overall +/- rating (incredibly, Rechi was exactly even for his career, i.e. he was on the ice for the same amount of goals scored by his team as goals allowed!). Moreover, Robitaille put up more “great” seasons by various metrics: more 30-goal seasons (12x vs. 7x), 40-goal seasons (8x vs. 4x), 50-goal seasons (3x vs. 1x), and 100-point seasons (4x vs. 3x), along with a higher career points-per-game average (0.97 vs. 0.93). This also resulted in more All-Star Game selections for the longtime King (8 to 7), though neither player won any major individual hardware besides Robitaille’s Calder Trophy. Though both players may have been underrated throughout their playing days, their achievements were both recognized by the Hockey Hall of Fame, with Robitaille being inducted in 2009 followed by Recchi in 2017.
Regular Season Statistics
| Mark Recchi | Player | Luc Robitaille |
| 22 (1988-2011) | Seasons | 19 (1986-2006) |
| 1,652 | Games Played | 1,431 |
| 577 | Goals | 668 |
| 956 | Assists | 726 |
| 1,533 | Points | 1,394 |
| – | +/- | +71 |
| 7x | All-Star Games | 8x |
| – | Hart Trophies | – |
| – | Ross Trophies | – |
| 3x | Stanley Cups | 1x |
| – | Conn Smythes | – |
| – | Other Awards | ROY |
| 2017 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2009 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In addition to regular season brilliance, Recchi and Robitaille were both near-annual playoff fixtures and each made multiple Stanley Cup Finals while winning at least one championship.
Across 15 career playoff appearances with five different teams, Recchi lifted the Stanley Cup 3x, each time with a different team:
- 1990-1991: beat Mike Modano and the Minnesota North Stars in six games as a member of the Penguins; individually, it was his best postseason with 10 goals and 24 assists for 34 points and a +6 +/- rating
- 2005-2006: helped the Hurricanes defeat the Chris Pronger-led Edmonton Oilers in the full seven games; 7 goals and 9 assists for 16 points with a -5 +/- rating
- 2010-2011: had 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points and a +7 +/- rating as the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games
Likewise, Robitaille played in the postseason 15x with four different franchises, making two Finals and winning the Cup once. In his first stint with the Kings, he led them to the 1992-1993 Stanley Cup Finals vs. Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens, but lost in five games despite his playoff contributions of 9 goals and 13 assists for 22 points, albeit with a -13 +/- rating. Finally, as a member of the Steve Yzerman-captained Red Wings in 2001-2002, Robitaille contributed 9 points (4 goals and 5 assists) to help Detroit beat the Hurricanes in five games.
Internationally, both players were somewhat limited for Team Canada despite their outstanding NHL careers – Recchi was a member of the 1998 Winter Olympics team in Nagano, Japan that disappointingly failed to medal (though he did win gold at the World Championships), while Robitaille led the country to golds at both the World Cup and World Championships.
Playoff Statistics
| Mark Recchi | Player | Luc Robitaille |
| 189 | Games Played | 159 |
| 61 | Goals | 58 |
| 86 | Assists | 69 |
| 147 | Points | 127 |
| +9 | +/- | -17 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Recchi and Robitaille were both high-scoring stars for most of their careers, while still remaining productive players into their mid-to-late 30s (and early 40s in Recchi’s case). For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Mark Recchi | Player | Luc Robitaille |
| 1990-1998, 1999-2001 | Decade of Dominance | 1986-1995, 2000-2001 |
| 772 | Games Played | 768 |
| 341 | Goals | 452 |
| 547 | Assists | 481 |
| 888 | Points | 933 |
| +34 | +/- | +27 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Across their respective decades of dominance in the late 1980s and 1990s, Recchi and Robitaille were both point-per-game plus producers – Recchi accumulated more assists, but Robitaille scored more goals and had more total points with a higher per-game scoring average (1.21 vs. 1.15 points per game).
My Thoughts
It may come as a bit of a surprise to many hockey fans that Mark Recchi is #3 all-time in career points among right wingers, while Luc Robitaille is tops among left wingers, but I think that is a testament to each player’s understated brilliance over a long period of time. Though the former accumulated more career points and won three Stanley Cups, I am not sure he was ever considered the best player on any of the teams he played for (all seven of them!) and was also never viewed as the premier right wing in the game. In contrast, while Robitaille may not have received widespread acclaim, it can be reasonably argued that for a decade, he was the best left winger in the NHL, as evidenced by his string of 40-goal seasons, single season scoring record for the position, and career scoring records at left wing (noting that traditionally, left wing has been a lower-scoring position than right wing). Whether you look at best single season, five-year stretch, ten-year stretch, or per-game averages, Robitaille’s production generally comes out slightly ahead of his counterpart Recchi.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Luc Robitaille
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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