Bruins sign Morgan Geekie to long-term contract

For the second year in a row, Don Sweeney and the Bruins found themselves in the unenviable position of trying to hammer out a new contract for a restricted free agent coming off the best run of their entire NHL career.

Last year, it was Jeremy Swayman coming off a breakout postseason run. And this time around, it was 33-goal scorer Morgan Geekie.

But the franchise will not go through yet another summer-long contract negotiation stalemate. Sunday night instead came with the confirmation that Geekie and the Bruins had come to terms on a new six-year deal worth $33 million, giving Geekie a $5.5 million cap hit.

NHL insider Chris Johnston was the first to report the news, which was confirmed by the Bruins less than 20 minutes later.

Signed by the Bruins in 2023, Geekie posted a career-high 19 goals and 39 points in 2023-24, and then exploded for a career-high 33 goals and 57 points this past season. Skating in a top-line role with Bruins superstar David Pastrnak, Geekie finished his season averaging 2.36 points per 60 minutes of five-on-five play, which was tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the 22nd-best rate among all forwards (minimum 1,000 minutes played).

Given that Geekie's 2024-25 season came with a downright absurd 22.0 shooting percentage, there are obvious questions as to whether or not Geekie can be this player all the time or if this was a one-year boom for him.

What is worth noting here on that front is that the Bruins themselves felt that Geekie could always be this kind of player, having signed him out Seattle with the acknowledgement that there was a little bit more offensive upside to his game if he were given the minutes and opportunity to play in those situations.

To that point, Geekie averaged an even higher 2.47 points per 60 at five-on-five play during his one year in Seattle before landing in Boston as a free agent.

"I never imagined I'd be having the season I'm having, but I definitely had the confidence to know that I could grow my game here in both facets, defensively and offensively," Geekie admitted at break-up day back in April. "This year, I think I turned the corner. I played with [David Pastrnak] a lot, and we grew some good chemistry together. I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot from [Pavel Zacha] and [Elias Lindholm], just playing with those guys that have been here for a while. I never would have imagined that's how it would play out here.

"I'm still looking to keep taking steps in my game. I know there's a lot of things I can improve on, and whether it be offensively or defensively, I'm just looking to improve my game on both sides of the puck.” 

Given the way the Geekie-Lindholm-Pastrnak line thrived to finish out the year, it'll be interesting to see how new head coach Marco Sturm lines Geekie up when training camp opens in September. There's a legitimate case to be made that the Bruins shouldn't mess with what's obviously been a good thing, but given Geekie's positional versatility and Boston's rather thin forward group and a potentially weak free-agent class, perhaps the Bruins' long-term vision for Geekie is centered around him being more of a middle-six scoring option.

A veteran of 333 NHL games between Carolina, Seattle, and Boston, Geekie’s Boston resume features 50 goals and 96 points in 153 games.