The Geekie Squad

Happy Wednesday, Razzball faithful!

It’s been a bit of a wild ride for Morgan Geekie (2 G, +1, 3 SOG, 1 PPG, GWG).

The Geekie Squad was the 67th overall pick in the 2017 draft and wasn’t considered much of a prospect after a 25-point season (in 66 games) for the 2015-2016 Tri-City Americans of the WHL.

It was the following year’s breakout that put Geekie on the map (72 GP, 35 G, 90 PTS), and convinced the Carolina Hurricanes that he was worth a gamble in the third round of the NHL Entry Draft.

So how did we end up here? 

After a shot of espresso (2 GP) in the 2019-2020 season, Geekie followed up with just 9 points in 36 games for the 2020-2021 Canes. 

Apparently, that was a big enough sample size for then GM, Don Waddell, and head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, to consider Geekie expendable for the Seattle Kraken’s expansion draft.

And that story pretty much wrote itself. The GM who drafted Geekie in Carolina was the same guy tabbed as the head architect of the newest NHL franchise in Washington state.

Ron Francis plucked the unprotected Geekie instead of more established players like Nino Neiderreiter and Jake Bean, seeing the Top 6 potential that the Geek Squad flashed in the WHL 5 years prior.

The results? Well, they weren’t quite what Francis had hoped for. In two seasons, Geekie averaged 71 games played and 25 points. 

Oof.

Fast forward to that fateful day in 2023 when the Kraken declined to tender a qualifying offer to the then 24-year-old.

The Boston Bruins swooped in and signed the fresh free agent to a 2-year, 4 million dollar deal, hoping that the forward would help fill in some scoring that the team was sorely lacking up the middle.

Last year’s 57 points in 77 games were enough for the Bruins to offer Geekie a 6-year, $33 million dollar extension.

What? You’re still not convinced that this guy’s story is a fun one? 

Morgan Geekie gifted all the Bruins customized baseball gloves after signing his extension ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/cBWdHid704

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) December 8, 2025

Now? Well, now, even the biggest Bruins homer wouldn’t have believed you if you said that Geekie would have 24 goals before Christmas. And they’d think you’re downright insane if you suggested that he’d be in the discussion for one of those coveted spots on Team Canada’s Olympic squad. 

Is The Geek Squad going to score 50 this year? Did anyone else tally a bunch of points at work last night?

Here’s what else I saw in Tuesday night’s NHL action…

Jeremy Swayman – 20 saves on 21 shots and the 4-1 win vs UTA. That pushes Swayman’s record to 13-8-0 and improves the ratios to a 2.74 GAA and a .909 SV%. Love that dirty water!

David Pastrnak – 2 A (25), +1, 5 SOG, 1 PPA, 1 BLK, and 9 points in 4 games since returning from a two-week injury break.

Vitek Vanecek – 19 saves on 23 shots and the loss, his 7th in a row. This drops Utah back to .500 (16-16-3).

Barrett Hayton – 1 G (4), -2, 2 PIM, 2 SOG, 1 PPG in 13:42 TOI. Even the faceoff numbers are ugly (4-10).

Sean Durzi – 1 A (4), -1, 1 SOG, 1 PPA, 10 PIM! FIGHT! With 25 seconds left in the third, Nick Schmaltz took exception to a slash from Alex Steeves late in the third, and Durzi stepped in to give the chicken jockey a little bit of the business. At least the Mammoth went down swinging in this one.

Thatcher Demko – 23 saves on 23 shots and the 3-0 shutout win at NYR. That’s back-to-back wins for Demko and his first shutout of the year. The ‘Nucks aren’t folding up shop just yet!

Conor Garland – 1 G (7), +1, 3 SOG, 1 SHG, 1 H, 1 BLK. A modest 3-game point streak and 4 PTS in his last three. The SHG is a nice bonus for the managers in leagues with short-handed cats, too!

Evander Kane – 1 G (6), +1, 2 SOG, GWG, 2 H, 1 BLK…and one soaking wet pair of jogging pants in the shower.

Jonathan Quick – 14 saves on 16 shots. The ratios aren’t bad, but this pushed Quick’s personal losing streak to 4-games.

John Gibson – 16 saves on 18 shots and the 3-2 win vs NYI. Speaking of old U.S.A. goalies. Gibby had some solid defense in front of him and rode a Marmo-favorite’s offense to the dub.

Alex DeBrincat – 2 G (20), 6 SOG, GWG, 1 H. Both goals were on the PP. DeBrincat has 13 points in his last 8 games, including 6 goals in his last 4 games.

Lucas Raymond – 3 A (27), 1 SOG, 2 PPA, 2 H, 2 BLK. Raymond’s 37 points in 32 games is good for a Top 20 spot in the scoring race.

Ilya Sorokin – 18 saves on 21 shots and the 3-2 loss at DET. Last week’s player of the week saw his personal 5-game winning streak snapped.

Anders Lee – 1 A (13), +1, 3 SOG, 1 BLK. I was looking for someone to highlight from the Islanders, and it was either this guy or Scott Mayfield. Woof.

Dan Vladar – 21 saves on 22 shots, and the 4-1 victory at MTL. A nice win for the dark lord after a couple of tough losses in overtime and a shootout in his last two games. The force is strong with this one.

Travis Konecny – 1 G (9), 1 A (20), +1, 3 SOG, 1 H, 1 BLK. He’s got points in 8 of his last 10 games.

Sean Couturier – 2 A (14), +2, 2 PIM, 4 SOG. Remember when this guy was tabbed as the next big thing in Philly? I wouldn’t be holding him outside of the deepest of leagues.

Jacob Fowler – 17 saves on 20 shots. That’s 8 goals allowed in his last two games. If you dumped a proven goalie to pick this kid up, maybe check the wire to see if there’s another one available. Fowler could end up back in Laval before the Christmas break.

Alexandre Texier – 1 G (3), -1, 3 SOG, 3 H. Serious question. If this guy’s name were Alex Texxer, and he didn’t speak French, would Montreal even give him a second look? Credit where it’s due, though. He’s got a 4-game point streak going.

Jet Greaves – 24 saves on 27 shots, the 3-2 OT win vs ANA, and still the coolest goalie name out there. 

Zach Werenski – 2 G (11), 1 A (25), +1, 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 1 BLK, and a guaranteed blueliner for Team USA in February (health permitting). More importantly, he’s proof that the “Zach, Zak, Zac, Zack” annoyance and triple-checking are not just limited to baseball writing.

Boone Jenner – 1 G (5), 1 A (9), 2 SOG, 5 H, 1 BLK. There’s a Kardashian joke here somewhere, but I’ll just say that this guy is a great “real-life” hockey player that I’d love to have on my favorite team…just not necessarily on my fantasy ones.

Ville Husso – 24 saves on 27 shots and the 4-3 OT loss. Back-to-back losses after a modest 3-game win streak, but you can’t blame Husso. Apparently, the Ducks told all of their defencemen to take the week off. (He’s faced 112 shots in his last three games.)

Mikael Granlund – 1 G (4), 1 A (7), +2, 3 SOG, 2 H, 1 BLK. 

Ryan Poehling – 2 A (10), +2, 4 SOG, 2 H, 3 BLK. The checking line center’s stats line looks more like a 6th defenceman’s (1 G, 10 A), but he’ll give you hits and blocks in those deep leagues with multiple categories.

Spencer Knight – 24 saves on 27 shots, and the 3-2 loss at TOR. The Blackhawks are without their superstar forward (more below) for a few weeks, so I assume they’ll be in for more than a few rough Knights ahead.

Connor Bedard – Zero points. Zero minutes. Plenty of tears and worrisome Hawks fans. Yesterday’s official news was “separated shoulder,” and word is he’ll be out until mid-January at the earliest.

Joseph Woll – 23 saves on 25 shots and the win. That’s three straight wins for Woll. He has a .947 SV% in his last 3 games.

Auston Matthews – 1 G (14), 1 A (9), 1 SOG, 1 PPG, 1 H, 20:30 TOI. Remember when people said he was better than Connor McDavid? I mean, those people were all Leaf fans, but still.

William Nylander – 2 A (25), 2 SOG, 1 PPA. And I even scrolled to see if there were any hits or blocked shots. No, seriously. I did.

Tristan Jarry – 26 saves on 30 shots and the 6-4 win at PIT. I came thisclose to running Jarry out as our lede today. I even had the title ready to go (“A Recipe For Jarry(ed) Penguins: Just Add Oil”). Alas, I fell victim to the Morgan Geekie story.

As for Jarry, it was a nice thumb-biting to his old squad after being dealt less than a week ago. If he can stay hot, he’s going to reward those of us who took a shot on him as a later-round backup in our two-goalie leagues.

Connor McDavid – 2 G (20), 2 A (38), 6 SOG, 1 PPG, 2 PPA, 1 BLK. Ya. This guy is pretty good.

Leon Draisaitl – 4 A (30), 2 PIM, 3 SOG, and 18:02 TOI. You know what’s kind of crazy? This guy scored his 1000th point in the NHL last night, and he still gets buried behind McDavid in the write-up.

But all jokes aside, when I heard the announcers say Leon recorded his 1000th point, I did a double-take and had to look up the career points leaders. 

For reference, he’s in the 103rd spot on the all-time list with Brian Propp (1004 PTS) and Lanny McDonald (1006 PTS) next to be leapfrogged by the big German forward.

Evan Bouchard – 1 G (6), 1 A (26), +1, 2 SOG, 1 BLK. Both points were on the power play, and Bocuhard continues to reap the benefits of playing on the man advantage with two of the best forwards in the league.

Stuart Skinner – 17 saves on 22 shots and the 6-4 loss. Unskinny Bop. As in, guess who finally got bopped out of Edmonton and lands on a Penguins team that is looking to give Arturs Silvos more time between the pipes.

Thomas Novak – 1 G (6), 1 A (11), +1, 1 SOG. Way to make the most of your one shot on net.

Erik Karlsson – 1 G (3), 1 A (22), -2, 3 SOG, 1 PPG, 1 H, 1 BLK. The 100-point days are long gone, but he’s still logging big minutes (24:11 TOI) in his age-35 season.

Filip Gustavsson – 25 saves on 25 shots and the 5-0 shutout win vs WSH. With all the Jesper Wallstedt hype, it’s easy to overlook that the Wild has another stellar netminder in Gustavsson. The big Swede has won his last four starts and allowed just 5 GA on his last 98 shots.

Vladimir Tarasenko – 2 G (5), 1 A (11), +3, 4 SOG. ‘Member this guy?!

Honestly, I didn’t even remember he was still in the league.

Danila Yurov – 1 G (4), 2 A (7), +3, 2 PIM, 1 SOG, 1 H. Last week, I mentioned that I had a conversation with a buddy about how some players with a ton of talent just need that increase in playing time to really flourish.

Now that Minnesota has shipped out some forward talent in the Quinn Hughes deal, there is an opportunity for kids like Yurov to prove that they deserve an uptick in ice time. So far, so good.

Charlie Lindgren – 27 saves on 32 shots and the 5-0 loss. What? Do you expect Logan Thompson to play 82 games?

Jacob Chychrun – 2 PIM, 4 SOG, 2 H, 1 BLK, 21:18 TOI. No points to report, but some extra stats to look at if you have expanded categories in your league.

Yaroslav Askarov – 10 saves on 12 shots (halfway through the second period). Askarov was up 3-2 when I tapped out to edit and post last night. He’s allowed two or fewer goals just once in his last 7 starts, so I’m not exactly confident that he’ll shut the door the rest of the way.

Barclay Goodrow – 2 G (3), +2, 2 SOG. 3 G, 2 A, in 32 games? This one was his game of the year (and the second period wasn’t even finished yet!)

Macklin Celebrini – 2 A (33), 3 SOG. So, this game isn’t even done yet, and he’s sitting at 49 points. In 34 games. And it isn’t even Christmas yet. Oh……..Kay.

Dustin Wolf – 10 saves on 13 shots. He’s won 4 straight, so the doom and gloom I was feeling a month ago has somewhat subsided. But, seriously, this Flames team isn’t going to do him any favors anytime soon.

Blake Coleman – 1 G (10), +1, 3 SOG, 3 H. Watching this guy rip heaters makes me wonder how he doesn’t have 20 goals already, too. Then I remember that playing in the NHL is not an easy thing to do!

Mackenzie Blackwood – 12 saves on 13 shots (through a period and a half). This one wasn’t quite through half of the second when I wrote it up last night, but it’s good to see yet another stellar tandem holding their own in net. I’m not sure choosing between Minnesota’s or Colorado’s goalie pair would be an easy thing to do.

Artturi Lehkonen – 1 G (13), +1, 2 SOG, 1 H. His 28th point in 33 games, and even more importantly, an assist for Martin Necas, gives the latter 43 PTS (so far).

Philipp Grubauer – 10 saves on 11 shots. He’s winless in three and is the clear backup to Joey Daccord.

Shane Wright – 1 G (6), +1, 1 SOG. Speaking of hotshot prospects who were supposed to light the league on fire, Wright reminds me a lot of Couturier. Shane Wright is still just 21 years old, so there’s room for him to break out, but it’s not looking like he’ll push much past last year’s career high of 44 points. 

And it’s 3-Point Challenge night for Thursday’s games!

It’s a 10-game Thursday night schedule, and you know the rules. We can’t take any of the Top 10 scoring leaders, so that rules out: Mackinnon, McDavid, Celebrini, Bedard, Rantanen, Necas, Draisaitl, Kucherov, Eichel/Connor/Carlsson.

I was tempted to go with the lede here, and take Morgan Geekie against Tristan Jarry, but give me Wyatt Johnston in San Jose against the Sharks.

I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions or comments, leave them below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!  

Happy Wednesday, and I’ll see you next week!

 

Follow me @marmosdad on Twitter/X and Bluesky @marmosdad.bsky.social