Friday fun - what makes Mark Recchi say these things?

Here is an article from last week in the Trib where Recchi is talking about Malkin. He starts out by talking about how Malkin is similar to Lemieux:

"He's really good. He's going to be scary good," Recchi said Tuesday. "I hate to bring up this comparison, but I don't think we've seen anybody with his size who can skate like him and do as much as him. He's as close to Mario as we're going to see for a long time."

I can buy that one - Malkin's size and abilities are much closer to Lemieux than Crosby's are. He does remind you of Lemieux when he's on the ice to some extent.

Mark then seems to take a subtle dig at Sidney:

"Obviously, some people have tried to pass that torch along to other people, but the way he skates and sees the ice, he's the whole package," Recchi said.

I'm not sure why he needs to say that they've tried to pass the torch to other people... who else could he be talking about but Sid? Maybe I'm reading it all wrong, and if that's the case, then I'm sorry. It just doesn't make much sense to me.

Sidney, for his part, praises Malkin up and down in the same interview:

"I'm thinking selfishly, but I can't wait to play with him," Crosby said. "When you get a chance to play with someone like that, it's like it was with Mario - you don't know what's going to happen, but you know you're going to create something. With a creative mind like that, you don't know what to expect and it makes for an element of surprise."

Sid always seems to take the high road when the public light is shining. Good for him.