Before moving on to the next phase of his career, Mark Recchi took a little time Saturday to savor his last Stanley Cup championship as a player.

He won with the Mario Lemieux Penguins in 1991. He won with Rod Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes in 2006. And now he’s hoisted the Cup with the Bruins.

“They’re all special in different ways,” Recchi said before getting on a duck boat and going for the three-mile joyride of his career. “To go out on top is something very special and you never forget. Regardless of what would’ve happened in Game 7, this was going to be one of the best groups I ever played with anyway. To get that chance to win with them is incredible.

“They were different. Obviously, ’91 was a long time ago. It wasn’t a parade, we were down at a point down in Pittsburgh. We had a parade in Carolina, which was really good, but not like today. This is something really special.”

The outpouring affected each and every Bruins player, coach and executive on the duck boats Saturday. For the 43-year-old Recchi, it was an amazing feeling.

“It’s incredible,” he said. “It’s such a great sports town anyway. With the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots all winning in the last 10 years and for the Bruins to do it now – and it’s been a long time, 39 years – it’s great to be a championship city again. There’s nothing better.”

Recchi also said he felt overjoyed for Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron and the younger players on this Bruins team, a team that could have its best years ahead of it.

“[2006] was the same thing,” Recchi said. “I was able to just watch the guys react, how react to things, how they feel under pressure. That’s the great thing about it. Now these guys start the playoffs, and hopefully, they get back into this position again and they’ll be able to enjoy it that much more.”

But all of the joy aside Saturday, he said he’s have absolutely no thoughts of extending his career one more season with the Bruins.

“No, that’s it,” Recchi said definitively, though he noted he would like to stay in the game in some sort of management role.

Has he officially contacted the Bruins about a front office gig?

“Oh no, I haven’t talked to anybody about that,” Mark Recchi. “We’ve been having too much fun.”

CBC hockey commentator Don Cherry joined the Dennis & Callahan show Tuesday morning to discuss the Matt Cooke suspension, what could happen the next time Zdeno Chara travels to Montreal and the recent slide of the Bruins.

After a seven-game winning streak that seemed to announce the Bruins as serious Stanley Cup contenders, the club has struggled, posting a 1-3-3 mark in its last seven games. Cherry was asked if the Bruins were built for a deep postseason run.

“There’s something wrong there,” said Cherry, who coached the Bruins from 1974-79. “Right now, there’s something wrong with that team. When they came into Toronto, and they were absolutely awful. But if you’re going to take a swoon, this is the time to do it. I would like to see [Shawn] Thornton play. He hasn’t played that much since [Chris] Kelly came to Boston. … I would play Thornton a regular shift because he’s the Bruins for sure.”

The NHL suspended Penguins forward Cooke for the final 10 games of the regular season plus the entire first round of the playoffs on Monday, the fifth suspension in Cooke’s 12-year career. Cooke, of course, was not suspended for the elbow to the head of Marc Savard last year, which directly caused what might turn out to be a career-ending concussion for the Bruins center. Cherry feels if Cooke had been properly disciplined for the Savard hit it might have prevented the elbow to Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh that led to Cooke’s suspension.

“He should have been tossed for what happened to Savard, but they said they didn’t have a rule,” Cherry said. “The guy never even got four minutes or anything for that. If he had got [suspended for] 20 games then, maybe he would have been straightened out. He should have been suspended for what he did to Savard and he got his comeuppance. … They should have given him 20-30 games back then and it might have straightened the little rat out.”

Cherry added that Mario Lemieux, who complained about dirty play following last month’s game against the Islanders, is “one of the biggest phonies I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“He says, ‘we have to get ride of headshots,’ and the [president], Dave Morehouse, says ‘we have to get rid of headshots,’ and [general manager] Ray Shero, who I really like, says the same thing. What happens? They’ve got the [biggest] headshot guy of all time, they’re paying his paychecks. What a bunch of hypocrites, I’ll tell you.”

Chara was not suspended for his March 8 hit of Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty, who suffered a concussion and a non-displaced fracture of cervical vertebrae. This led to outrage throughout Montreal, and Montreal police did open a criminal investigation against Chara. Cherry was asked if the Boston defenseman has reason to be concerned about future trips to Montreal.

“Who’s going to arrest him? That’s not going to happen. And the Canadiens have really have nobody to do anything to him,” Cherry said. “Who would? And if the game is close, nothing is going to happen. He’s too big, too strong. … There’s no way he did that to that guy [on purpose], he was just taking that guy out. And I really give it to the owners — the Molsons — they didn’t have enough padding on that turnbuckle. It should have been padded, the kid would have bounced right off.”

To hear the interview, click here.

Mike Milbury

NESN and NBC Sports hockey analyst Mike Milbury made his weekly appearance on the Dale & Holley show Wednesday to talk Bruins and NHL news. To hear the interview, go to the Dale & Holley audio on demand page.

Milbury indicated he likes the Bruins’ acquisition of Chris Kelly from the Senators. “I think the Bruins have made a wise decision to add to their depth and toughness,” he said. “In both cases, you can’t get enough of it, particularly when it comes time for playoff time.”

The Bruins reportedly have interest in Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle. “He’s a quiet player,” Milbury said. “He’s efficient, he’s not a physical force, doesn’t have a big shot, moves it pretty well from the point. I didn’t mean to be too critical of him the last time we spoke. If I was, I stand somewhat corrected.”

Added Milbury: “This is a player that’s going to need to step it up in terms of intensity and commitment level if he does come to Boston. That’s how I see it.”

On Friday night, the Islanders sought revenge on the Penguins for previous hits by sparking a number of brawls. The NHL responded with suspensions and a $100,000 fine for the Islanders due to their inability to control their players. However, Penguins owner Mario Lemieux said it didn’t go far enough.

“What happened on Long Island was unacceptable,” Milbury said. “Clearly, the league made that statement. We allow fighting because we like it. … We like the manliness of it. We like the immediate retribution for a perceived slight to our teammates or to ourselves. We like it when guys stand up for themselves. And we like it that they’re willing to sacrifice and are they’ll go as far as dropping the gloves to do it.

“But it’s not supposed to be a tactic. We bristle when people come up from behind, because it crosses our sense of etiquette in the hockey world. We bristle a little bit more when it seems to be not a mano-a-mano retribution thing but almost a team-wide, orchestrated thing. And we really don’t like it — and what happened on Long Island — is when somebody is in a compromised position that the fighter continues to pummel his opponent. And not only that, once it’s over, he comes back to taunt him from the runway. All silly, and a black eye for the league.

“Fortunately, it’s an aberration. It doesn’t happen very often any more. But when you allow fighting, and you allow those emotions to vent, it’s difficult to control it. From time to time, you’ll see this stuff. As I said, fortunately it’s less frequent now.

“The league acted. Was it strong enough? You can debate that. You could certainly have an argument about whether it was forceful enough to make changes in behavior. But it was a strong and it was an immediate statement. I think everybody would grant that.”

As for Lemieux’s criticism, Milbury noted that Matt Cooke still is a member of the Penguins. “Pittsburgh is not a goody-two-shoes team,” he said. “They’re a snippy little bunch. They’re not shy when it comes to a hit when you’re vulnerable.”