Morgan Geekie maps out doubts, belief that fueled a breakout year

ELMONT, N.Y. — What a distinction a yr has made for Morgan Geekie. 

Final November, the Bruins winger was seemingly mired in no man’s land inside Jim Montgomery’s ahead grouping — scratched in 5 of Boston’s first 20 video games. 

He didn’t etch his identify on the scoresheet till Boston’s seventh sport of the 2024-25 marketing campaign. He lastly lit the lamp 12 video games in. 

These days spent on the surface wanting in at Boston’s lineup nonetheless resonate with the 27-year-old Geekie — even when these struggles stand in stark distinction to the seemingly countless barrage of pucks he’s peppering into twine this month. 

“It was fairly powerful. I’m not gonna lie,” Geekie advised Boston.com Tuesday of his gradual begin final yr. “Clearly your job’s at stake, and if you’re in that place on the finish of a deal, and also you’re not enjoying effectively, loads of issues can add up.”

“I’m making an attempt to do a job for my household and help my household, and I believe that possibly will get missed slightly bit, so you might have the burden of that as effectively. …  It’s undoubtedly a giant change with the place I’m now, however it’s good. I don’t assume I might be the place I’m with out these hardships.” 

These hardships have seemingly fueled Geekie’s transformation into one of many league’s elite scorers in document time. 

As soon as deemed a spare cog in Boston’s ahead corps, the sight of Geekie rifling pucks previous netminders is now as common an prevalence as fellow Bruins sniper David Pastrnak uncorking rockets from the left circle. 

Because the calendar flipped to 2025, Pastrnak ranks second within the NHL in targets scored this yr with 41 throughout 67 whole video games. The one participant with extra? Geekie — with 42. 

Recent off of a 33-goal marketing campaign primarily sparked after Montgomery’s exit, Geekie has already dispelled the notion that his breakout final yr was an unsustainable fluke.

With 17 targets in simply 24 video games this yr, Geekie is tied with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in tallies — and is on tempo for a whopping 58 targets over an 82-game stretch. 

Geekie’s emergence has even raised the dialog that he might be within the working for a spot on Workforce Canada’s roster for the upcoming 2026 Olympics — a notion that Geekie himself downplayed. 

“Clearly, that’s a dream that each child in Canada has,” Geekie mentioned. “On the finish of the day, I have a look at the lineup and also you go down and I’m like — whose spot are you realistically gonna take? However I respect it wholeheartedly — simply to have my identify within the dialog, regardless of how lengthy that listing could also be.”

A peak below the hood reveals a few of what has fueled Geekie’s evolution from bottom-six spud gun into top-line howitzer. 

Geekie’s fast launch and willingness to pepper the online from outdoors of Grade-A ice has typically had goalies too late to account for the screaming surge of vulcanized rubber heading their manner. 

A slap shot delivered by Geekie towards the Maple Leafs on Nov. 11 registered at 103.03 miles per hour: the quickest shot within the NHL thus far this yr, per NHL Edge tracking data. Eleven of Geekie’s 17 targets have come from both mid-range (eight) or long-range (three) areas within the offensive zone — each of which rank within the 99th percentile amongst NHLers this yr. 

In fact, what can’t be measured on the stat sheet holds simply as a lot worth to Geekie with regards to the reasoning behind his latest success. 

For Geekie, a renewed sense of confidence trumps all different components. 

Geekie credited former Bruins coaches and teammates like Joe Sacco and Brad Marchand for constructing that conviction again up throughout final fall’s stumbles — again when even he began to foster doubts about whether or not Boston was going to be simply the newest pit cease in a profession suffering from brief tenures and a dearth of alternative. 

The next outcomes communicate for themselves. 

“I believe it permits you to be slightly bit extra egocentric with the puck in these choices. … I really feel like if you don’t see these pucks entering into, you are feeling such as you’re nearly losing a possibility, and also you wish to give it to anyone else in a greater spot,” Geekie mentioned of his elevated shot quantity. “However I believe if you begin to belief your self slightly extra, the boldness begins to develop. 

“The toughest half is when you don’t have any confidence and also you’re simply making an attempt to get slightly little bit of it. After which when you get slightly bit, you simply begin including daily. I really feel like, proper now, I’m fairly content material with the place I’m. I do know what I can do.” 

The reminders of his earlier labors is much from the one factor fueling Geekie’s resurgence. 

Be it social-media venom, chirps broadcast over the airwaves, or blunt critiques put into print, professional athletes are normally best-served avoiding mentioned noise when the boldness of their craft is slipping.

Geekie, nevertheless, embraces it. 

He famous forward of the 2024-25 season that he stored up with a lot mentioned about him, particularly when some doubted that his 17-goal debut season in Boston was going to be the norm. 

He echoed an identical strategy throughout these days spent watching video games from the ninth ground final November, and once more this fall when many labeled his 33 tallies as idiot’s gold. 

That outdoors noise hasn’t quieted down — whilst Geekie continues to seek out the again of the online, evening in and evening out. 

Amid a yr the place Geekie has already traversed each the bottom of lows and the best of highs, the Bruins ahead is relishing any alternative to show extra doubters improper. 

“No, I nonetheless listen,” Geekie mentioned with a smile about studying a lot mentioned about him. “Individuals assume that I’m nonetheless a Pasta service provider. So it’s what it’s. I imply, that’s at all times gonna be the shtick if you rating 30 targets with a superb participant like that. 

“However I do know what I can do and the participant that I’ve grown into. … . I do know that I is usually a good participant on this league, after which when individuals are, ‘Ah, he’s solely good as a result of [Pastrnak’s] good. “He’s a world-class participant, and everybody is aware of that. Nevertheless it does take a superb participant to click on with a fantastic participant.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author masking the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a task he has held since 2023.