Geekie Aiming to Help Fill Void at Center

BOSTON – For Morgan Geekie, the Black & Gold are the gold standard.

Over the first few years of his career, the Manitoba native watched from afar as the Bruins continually found themselves near or at the top of the league. Now, as he enters his fifth NHL campaign, Geekie is ready to be a part of it.

“Anytime you can join the regular-season champions of last year, there's just an aura about this organization, and it being an Original Six team, too,” said Geekie. “It's something that you almost dream about as a kid. There's those group of teams that you want to be a part of, and they're tough to play against, so I'm super excited to be a part of it here and just fill in the gaps and try and do what I can for this organization.

“Everyone in the organization has been awesome, super welcoming…there's a lot of camaraderie in this organization…it's a culture that you can feel as soon as you step into the building.”

Geekie, who was poised to become a restricted free agent this past summer, was inked to a two-year, $2 million contract with the Bruins on the opening day of free agency after the Seattle Kraken opted not to issue the centerman a qualifying offer.

“At the end of the day, it's a business and I enjoyed my time in Seattle, regardless of how it ended,” said Geekie, who posted a career-high 28 points and nine goals last season. “I still have lots of friends [there] and I owe nothing but a thank you to the organization…for giving me the opportunity in the Expansion Draft.

“I'm excited to get started here, and that's kind of in the rearview mirror, but it's definitely going to be something that I was happy to be a part of for a couple years there.”

Now, the 25-year-old has his sights set on seizing the opportunity in front of him – chiefly grabbing hold of one of the spots left vacant by the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, which means he’ll have to be mindful of the defensive part of his game.

“I like to think that I can fill a couple of roles, and I think that I'm learning to play both ends of the rink,” said Geekie. “To be a defensive center, that's something I'm for sure open to doing and anything to help the team. There's a lot of good players in this organization and this team, so I'm just going to try and come in and bring what I can to the team, whatever that may be, and just try and take it and run with it.”

Coach Jim Montgomery does not believe Geekie will have to make too much of an adjustment in the defensive zone as he transitions from Seattle.

“Seattle did a zone-type defense, so he's used to it,” said Montgomery. “I don’t know the intricacies or the inner details of how they do their D-zone, but I don't see it being a big adjustment for him. I think on the offensive side of things and how we transition is going to be a bigger adjustment for him.”

Geekie acknowledged the need to shore up his face-off performance after dipping to a 49.2% success rate – the lowest of his four-year career – after posting seasons of 54.6% (2019-20), 52.5% (2020-21), and 52.5 (2021-22).

“Face-offs are something I take pride in,” said Geekie, who had Trent Frederic and Anthony Richad on his wings for the first two days of camp. “Last year was a little bit of a down year for me percentage-wise, but I feel solid going into every draw. Every time you play Boston, you know that they're good in the circle and it’s something that they take pride in. So, that's something that I’m going to try to add to my game for sure and just keep getting better.

“There's a lot of guys that I can learn from here, both past and present. So, I'll just try and take advantage of all the opportunities I can when it comes to face offs, and just go out there and try and win some draws.”

Wait, There’s More

Montgomery also touched on several other topics following Friday’s training camp sessions:

On the roster for Sunday’s preseason opener vs. the New York Rangers: “Yeah, I mean, you're not going to see more than eight vets. But we're going to look at players that we think could have earned the right to get an opportunity to see what they have to extend either their time…or improve their position within the team.”

On Charlie McAvoy’s leadership style: “I don't know if it's just because he has training camp this year unlike last year [because of his surgery rehab], but just the way he carries himself, his swagger and his confidence on the ice and in the dressing room. I think it’s just easier for him to focus on becoming a player that he is for the Bruins – a dominant hockey player in our league. I think it just comes from he's not worried about how his rehab is going. He's just worried about getting ready. And that helps his leadership qualities just because when your best players are confident, everybody follows.”

On Pavel Zacha becoming a full-time centerman this season: “Just continuing his ascension into what we believe is a two-way pivot that can add offense, and play really good defense. We have a lot of belief and confidence in him, and I think where his game is at…he’s picked up today the way that he’s practiced. And he has a lot of confidence in himself as well.”

On defenseman Mason Lohrei’s performance thus far: “I know he’s a real good hockey player, he's had two good days. And he needs to continue up on that…it’s his first camp as well. And every day we preach to everybody, we get better as a group, and individually we’ve got to get better so the group gets better. And he's done that so far.”

On forward Georgii Merkuvlov’s camp showing: “I like the way hhe rebounded today. I thought he was so-so yesterday, I thought he was really good today. He was very centered in, he was on top of pucks. I thought his pace of play was a lot better today, and I think that line of [Merkulov, Danton Heinen, and Jake DeBrusk], in particular, was pretty dominant out there based on how many goals they scored.”

On how defenseman Ian Mitchell has changed since he coached him at Denver: “I'm seeing a lot of things…the reasons why we recruited him. He's being fast defensively and offensively. He's transitioning well, I think his hockey sense and his compete are his two biggest strengths, and I think he looked better today than he was [Thursday]. Again, that's what you want to see. The players that continue to get better throughout camp are the ones that usually have good opportunity to make the team.”

On defenseman John Farinacci at his first training camp: “It’s like a baby coming into the world, every day you're learning something new. And that's why you love having rookies, because of the energy they bring in and, I guess, you see how awesome it is to be in the NHL, because they're excited…everything's new…I thought today, you've noticed he vastly improved from [Thursday], just with the pace, being comfortable adjusting to the speed and strength and size of the players that he’s going against.”