Since the 2015-16 season, Morgan Geekie has had the opportunity to do anything outside of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand or David Pastrnak. Geekie has scored 28 goals in 72 games since Louis Eriksson, and Geekie could be the first Bergeron to score 30 goals without a name called Bergeron, Marchand or Pastrnak. As NESN’s Adam Pellerin pointed out, the Bruins had the last playoffs. Despite a convincing 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, Liang hit the 10-game losing streak, but the Bruins were officially eliminated from the playoffs.
2024 – 25 years of movement have been long, turbulent, and ultimately defined as brown bears. As the team failed to find consistency and won the season, general manager Don Sweeney was forced to make tough decisions and sell out most of the team’s core and focus on a makeover. The disappointing season will be slightly lower, but this is a conversation Bruins fans have had throughout the season and will likely continue to be good during the offseason. Rather than reducing the failure again, it would be better to do damage to Geekie, not to mention that he has performed very well against the Bruins this season.
The 26-year-old from Strathclair has improved in total every season since joining the NHL. In his first NHL game in the 2019-20 season, he scored three goals and four points in two games. He was 9 points ahead of his debut in 36 games next season, before being drafted by Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL expansion draft. Geekie played six-part roles in Seattle for two seasons, but did not make a qualified offer after the 2022-23 season, making him a free agent.
The decision opened the door for the Brown Bears, with Bruins signing a $4 million deal for two years; now, the move looks like one of Sweeney’s most sophisticated value signatures for his tenure as general manager.
Geekie outperforms his contract
Signing immediately proved to be the right move for the Bruins as the 6-foot-3-foot-height, 208-pound freak will quickly win their own prize against fans and scored a career-high 17 goals and 39 points in 76 games. This season, Geekie once again raised his stakes with 28 goals and 50 points in 72 games and had the chance to score 30 points for the first time in his career. New contract negotiations are just in time during the offseason.
What makes Geekie’s season even more impressive is that he has only two goals and five points in his first 20 games, including one assist in one game and started the season meaninglessly in his first six games. He scored 25 goals and 40 points in the next 51 games, truly cementing one of the best and most stable players of the Bruins this season. Although he remains a restricted free agent in the offseason, Geekie seems to have trapped himself in a different contract extension range, which is wise to consider. One possible problem is that Geekie’s performance has been skating with Bruis’ best player Pastrnak, who proves capable of playing with anyone.
While it’s hard to make money from Geekie in the offseason, it’s also hard to object to the results he’s shown this season, given whether he can maintain this level of success without Pastrnak on his opposite side. Just because he plays with Pastrnak, especially when the solution to move forward is just to keep playing Weird and Pastrnak, it’s hard to fight against money.
Ultimately, the Bears have little to look forward to in the near term, but Geekie offers one of their most exciting and capable offensive options. As the Bruins hope to make a quick remake and return to competitive hockey soon, players like Geekie would be a wise move.
Related: 2 forwarding the Brown Bears should aim in the 2025 draft
Although Geekie’s potential contract extension could have risen annually between $3 million and $4 million, it’s entirely possible for him to get rid of that expectation now. This is true whether he reaches the 30-ball mark or not. Meanwhile, Bruis is consistent with Geekie’s restricted free agent status. If the Browns can extend a reasonable contract with Geekie that can buy some unrestricted free agent years for the team, they will be smart rather than signing Geekie in a short-term year bridge deal, which will allow him to bring him into an unrestricted free agency in the following offseason. The problem here is that the Brown Bear will have to sell Geekie as the team can get back on competitiveness sooner rather than later. Otherwise, they may have to pay more, just to retain their long-term talents.
It’s hard to say exactly what the direction of the brown bears in the next or two seasons will be, but since multiple dominoes have not yet fallen, this photo will undoubtedly become clearer in due course. Patience is key, but in a city like Boston, it’s not always easy because (superably) every sports team is very high.
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