For someone who played 1,652 NHL games — fifth-most all-time — Mark Recchi celebrated his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame pretty much how you’d expect.

By getting back to work.

Recchi was in a meeting Monday when Hockey Hall of Fame chairman Lanny McDonald called to tell the winger from Kamloops, British Columbia, that he was one of seven picks for the Class of 2017.

After accidentally interrupting McDonald by saying, “No way,” Recchi was audibly floored by the news.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Recchi said. “You hope (what you did) is good enough at some point, whether it was now or a couple years from now or whatever.

“That’s the ultimate prize, and it’s an amazing feeling.”

The ultimate prize didn’t come without a wait for Recchi. Despite ranking 12th all-time in points with 1,533, Recchi had been turned down each of the past three seasons.

Before Monday, Recchi was the only NHL player with 500 goals and 1,500 points who was not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“To get that call (Monday) from Lanny, it was incredible,” Recchi said. “It was an unbelievable honor. I can’t believe how excited I am about this.”

Joining Recchi will be Dave Andreychuk, Danielle Goyette, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Clare Drake and Jeremy Jacobs.

The induction ceremony will be Nov. 13 in Toronto.

The Penguins, who do not play that night, drafted Recchi in the fourth round (67th overall) in the 1988 NHL draft. He joined the front office in 2014 and current works as the Penguins’ director of player development.

Recchi is the 16th player or builder with ties to the Penguins organization to be elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“It’s absolutely incredible and humbling,” Recchi said of joining former teammates such as Mario Lemieux, Paul Coffey and Bryan Trottier. “They’re all great friends. To be in there with them, to play with them and now to join them in this. I was never expecting this when I started playing in the NHL.”

Besides winning the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1991, Recchi won it all with Carolina in 2006 and Boston in 2011. With two Cups as a member of the front-office, McDonald teased Recchi at the beginning of their call by asking whether winning Stanley Cups ever gets old.

“It never gets old,” Recchi said.

Recchi is the seventh player from the Penguins’ 1991 Cup team to make it into the Hall of Fame. Lemieux, Coffey, Ron Francis, Joe Mullen, Larry Murphy and Trottier are the others. Jaromir Jagr is a slam dunk if he ever retires.

Recchi’s NHL career took him to seven different NHL cities; in addition to Pittsburgh, he spent time with Philadelphia, Montreal, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Boston. It also stretched across several eras.

“It was a lot of fun in all of them,” Recchi said. “It was an honor to play 22 years. Staying healthy through that was never easy. Taking care of myself on and off the ice was a huge part of it. Being prepared to play every day. Being mentally prepared helped me. I loved playing the game. I loved getting out there. Whatever I could do to play, I did.”

A seven-time All-Star, Recchi is one of just 10 players in the modern era to win Cups with three different teams.

Many thought his list of accomplishments would have had Recchi in the Hall of Fame long ago, but Recchi said he never got flustered by it. He always stayed positive.

“It had to play out its course,” Recchi said. “If I got in, wonderful. I did what I could on the ice. If it was good enough, it was good enough. I had a wonderful career. I had wonderful teammates. I was fortunate to win. This is the ultimate, to finish it off. You can only do so much. You have to let your numbers and your play dictate where it gets you.”