The Seattle Kraken have made their pick from the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft – former Ron Francis draft pick Morgan Geekie. Geekie, currently 23 years old, was drafted 67th overall in the third round in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The Kraken selected Geekie over players like Jake Bean, Nino Niederreiter and Jake Gardiner.
Morgan Geekie’s development has been a nice process to watch. Drafted in 2017 out of the Tri-City Americans in the WHL (as an over-ager), Geekie put up 35 goals and 55 assists for 90 points in 72 games, including 1 goal in 4 games in the WHL playoffs. His last year in the WHL was another very good one, with 30 goals and 54 assists for 84 points in 68 games, including 17 goals and 27 points 14 games in the WHL playoffs. This would be Geekie’s last year in the WHL as he graduated to the AHL next year.
Geekie’s rookie year in the AHL was a very productive one; he put up 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points in 73 games. In the playoffs, Geekie put up 8 goals and 10 assists for 18 points in 19 games. He would also gather accolades in this year, putting up the most goals and points by a rookie in the AHL playoffs and, of course, would go on to win the Calder Cup.
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Geekie’s second year in the AHL is more interesting as, during the season, Geekie went on a 14 game point scoring streak during a really strong stretch for that Checkers team in which Geekie, Bean and Alex Nedeljkovic all found their stride (which would eventually lead to all of them making debuts and getting consistent roster time within the next year).
Geekie would actually be called up to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7th, 2020 and would make his NHL debut the next day.
Geekie’s NHL debut was quite good, as he would put up his first NHL goal, along with his second, to go along with an assist in an absolute route of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He would get one more game with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2020, scoring another goal against the Detroit Red Wings right before COVID decided to shut everything down. He also got some playing time during the bubble playoffs, having 1 assist in 8 games.
Going into the 2020-2021 season, it would seem as if Geekie had carved out a role on the roster for himself. To some extent, he actually did. Being on the taxi squad most of the year helped his development as Geekie would play in 36 games, scoring 3 goals to go along with 6 assists for 9 points in a sheltered 4th line role most of the time. The Carolina Hurricanes would send him down to the AHL for 2 games, where he put up 4 goals and an assist for 5 points. Geekie would then play in 3 playoff games for the Carolina Hurricanes but wouldn’t get a point.
Now headed to Seattle, I wish the Geekie the best. He certainly had proven himself to be a full time NHLer and probably has the capability to be a middle-6 player for that Kraken team (especially if the picks hold true to Frank Seravalli’s leaks). Geekie will also be an RFA after his current 1-year, two-way contract runs out, making it easier for Francis to keep him. Once more, I wish Morgan Geekie all the best as he makes his way to Seattle.
The one thing I will say about this, is that this loss is the best case scenario for the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes have about 4-5 more Morgan Geekie’s that they could play on that bottom line next year, with players like Steven Lorentz, Jack Drury, Ryan Suzuki, Jamieson Rees and David Cotton almost all ready for NHL time with Lorentz already having some NHL experience.