The hockey pundits around the world continue to doubt Boston Bruins forward Morgan Geekie. The forward is one of the top scorers over the past year in the NHL, but people are still predicting that a regression to his elevated shooting percentage is in the cards. It isn't an outlandish position to take, but with the way Geekie is shooting the puck, it's hard to see goalies soon being able to stop him.
The Bruins are going to need Geekie to continue on his torrid pace if they want to hold on to their playoff spot after the Olympic break. It isn't going to be easy with so many teams chasing them, but the combination of Geekie and David Pastrnak may just put the offense on their backs and sneak into a wild card spot. Nevertheless, Eli Feldman via DobberHockey believes that might be too much to ask.
"Before the regular season began, I characterized Morgan Geekie as a potential negative regression candidate, in part due to his lofty 21.9 SH% last year. Geekie proved me wrong early, exploding for 25 goals in his first 42 games. Overall, Geekie has registered 54 points in 56 games for the Bruins this season, putting him on pace for just under 80 points. However, Geekie's 24.8 SH% (third-highest among forwards with 20+ games played and over 7% higher than his career average) screams regression."Eli Feldman
Feldman ranked Geekie second behind only Mark Stone on his list of the top regression candidates for the post-Olympic break portion of the schedule. Bruins fans need to hope that the 12-game drought he went through over the holidays will be his only regression point of the season.
The Olympic break couldn't have come at a worse time for Geekie. He was in the middle of an eight-game point streak, with seven goals and five assists. While the break could do him well, it's more likely that it'll cool down the scorching hot streak he was on. The good news is that even though his stats were deserving, Geekie didn't do enough to make the Team Canada roster, which means he is one of a few Bruins who will get the full break to relax and recover.
If Feldman's prediction comes true, the Bruins as a team could crumble. Boston needs that elite-level scoring behind Pastrnak to supplement the offense, and without it, things could turn bad.