Will Recchi retire after being waived? What are his options?

With his days with the Pittsburgh Penguins drawing to an end, pending unrestricted free agent forward Mark Recchi has no plans to retire if he’s not claimed off waivers, reports Rob Rossi and Keith Barnes of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review and Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

At least that’s what his agent, Rich Curran, is saying.

“There is no reason for him to retire because he can still play,” Curran said.

Curran has enough faith in Recchi that he sees his client catching on with another team.

“There’s still a lot of hockey left in Mark Recchi,” he said.

The Columbus Blue Jackets, among numerous clubs, have been scouting the Penguins and Recchi over the past few games suggesting that they may have some interest in acquiring him. Nothing came to fruition, though. The Penguins tried unsuccessfully to trade Recchi and give him a fresh start, but there were no takers.

“The problem was not a lack of interest. It was the whole cap environment. It’s very restrictive,” Currran said of the salary cap.

So now that Recchi can be placed on re-entry waivers and get claimed at half his salary (that would be $875,000), will that entice teams to acquire Recchi?

Some “unconfirmed reports” suggest several teams, including the the Calgary Flames, may put in a claim. However, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch doesn’t see the Blue Jackets picking up Recchi via the re-entry waivers. Portzline thinks that by adding Recchi at half his salary of $875,000, it would “seriously hamper their efforts to make a better move” before the February 26 trade deadline.

Add the Ottawa Senators to the list of teams that have no intention of pursuing Recchi. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch believes that he’s not the top-six forward that Senators GM Bryan Murray is looking for.

Still, Garrioch is of the opinion that a team may take a chance on Recchi at half the salary once he’s inevitably placed on re-entry waivers.

Should Recchi not get claimed, Penguins GM Ray Shero says he’s prepared to discuss a buyout with Recchi.