The Boston Bruins have gotten more than expected from Morgan Geekie over the past two seasons. A bit of luck helped, as he was well above the league average in shooting percentage, but he was also beating goalies clean with a shot that can rival any other forward's. Geekie's problem is whether he can contribute when the shots aren't going in, as has been the issue this season.
The sniper hasn't been as productive when David Pastrnak isn't on his opposite flank, as expected. He started the season on the second line with Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittelstadt, but that line didn't work out. They reunited Geekie with Pastrnak, and their first game back together suggested they were about to pop off again, but the winger still has just one goal in 10 games.
Geekie's seven assists put him on pace to match last season's career-year in points, but make no mistake: the Bruins need Geekie to score, not just get secondary assists. Now that he is on the second line with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov and away from Pastrnak, this could be his last chance to prove he still belongs in the team's top six.
Morgan Geekie could be in line for a demotion
It isn't that the Bruins have to throw him to the wayside, but the team's youth movement could make it hard for Marco Sturm to justify keeping Geekie in the top six. James Hagens has been on fire recently, and it would be interesting to see him on one of the scoring lines. Replacing Geekie to reunite the kid line is easy, but I'd consider going in a different direction.
JJ Peterka looked great with Khusnutdinov and Minten at times, and reuniting them might make the most sense. If Sturm is married to keeping Minten and Khusnutdinov together, the path to unlocking Hagens might be to put him in the Geekie spot opposite Pastrnak, since a line of the two of them with Zacha has some potential.
Geekie would then move down to form a veteran checking line with Elias Lindholm and Mittelstadt, which isn't the prettiest line but can win their matchups in the bottom six.
Geekie is also quickly losing his luster on the team's top powerplay unit, especially at the expense of more skilled players like Peterka and Hagens. Sturm reunited last season's top powerplay unit to give them a sense of familiarity, which worked initially, but has gone stale again after failing to capitalize on their opportunities in the shootout loss to the Dallas Stars.
The Manitoban does go through scoring streaks and could shoot 10 pucks in the net over the next two weeks, proving this point wrong. However, things seem to be going in the wrong direction for him, and he doesn’t have the benefit of not having anyone pushing him for more playing time.
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