Go back and tell a Boston Bruins fan at the start of the regular season that Alex Steeves was playing the wing on the first line this early. They'd be in shock since that seemed like a long shot when training camp broke in October. Steeves failed to make the Bruins' opening night roster, and he seemed destined to be a really good AHLer who couldn't quite make the jump.
Fast forward two months, and Steeves now has five goals in his past five games, and he put all of that into perspective when speaking with reporters after the game.
""Call ups are fighting tooth and nail, and I feel like I've been fighting tooth and nail for four years to be here...And to be on a line with the top goalscorer in the NHL and a world class two-way center like Lindy is really special for me, and I want to make good on it.""Alex Steeves
Show those same hypothetical October Bruins fans Steeves' comments from tonight's game and see what they think. They'd probably say that it's good to see that Elias Lindholm is playing like a world-class two-way center again. They'd also say that we didn't need time travel to know that playing with David Pastrnak, the NHL's top goalscorer, would lead to success for Steeves.
But wait, October Bruins fan, the top goalscorer in the NHL that Steeves is talking about isn't Pastrnak, it's actually Morgan Geekie. The main takeaway from the comments was Steeves' perspective on the opportunity, but that didn't mean I didn't take a minute to reflect on how far Geekie has come during his Bruins tenure. Not one person in the world would've predicted two years ago that the player Steeves was talking about was Geekie.
It's just another example of how wild this season has gotten due to injuries and the roster reconstruction that the front office started this past offseason.
Alex Steeves shows some perspective after Bruins' win over Blues
It has been a long journey for Steeves. He torched the AHL last season, but the Toronto Maple Leafs didn't have the room to give him a shot. However, the Bruins' pro scouting team did some serious digging in the AHL to find some offensive talent, and it was time well spent.
Steeves will likely find more level ground at some point. No one expects him to score at this pace for long. However, as he gets more comfortable with the Bruins, it's extremely difficult to imagine a world where he goes back to defend his AHL scoring crown.