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Mark Recchi says he made embellishment claims to take heat off of Zdeno Chara

recchitakesoneforcharagetty

James O’Brien

Looking at Mark Recchi’s statements about the Montreal Canadiens “embellishing” Max Pacioretty’s injuries following the Zdeno Chara hit, it’s easy to paint him as a loon. In some ways, that’s still a pretty valid assessment.

Yet there was also the undercurrent of thought that there was a method to the long-time NHL veteran’s madness. Recchi - along with another outspoken Boston Bruins forward, Milan Lucic - more or less confirmed those thoughts, as they told Joe Haggerty that they made those comments to “take some of the attention and heat away from” teammate Chara.

Is it an example of Recchi being a savvy veteran or is he just trying to repair a reputation slightly marred by what were some ridiculous statements? For Recchi to rest his argument on the notion that “Patrice Bergeron couldn’t open his blinds, yet Pacioretty’s able to go to the movies ... " shows an almost juvenile ignorance of the complexity of concussion problems, so hopefully he was just trying to create a diversion.

The comments still make you wonder if he’s taken too many hits to the head during his long NHL career, though.