Morgan Geekie will enter his third year with the Bruins after he signed a six-year extension with Boston on Sunday night. And while he hasn’t been around as long as David Pastrnak or Charlie McAvoy, Geekie is looking forward to emerging as more of a leader.
Geekie admitted he’s not a super outgoing person, but believes his relationship with his younger brother, Conor, who’s in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s system, will help him as he steps into more of a leadership role — especially when it comes to both the younger players and the veterans.
“I try to stay out of his way, but I think my relationship with him is allows me to maybe bridge the gap between the older guys and the younger guys just because I have a little bit of some history with that age of kid,” Geekie said on Monday. “I think the game’s changing a lot. But I think I’m kind of around the perfect age right now where I can kind of feel both sides.
“So, I’m super excited to take that next step as a leader and be involved in the room a little bit more.”
Geekie enjoyed a career year during an otherwise tough 2024-25 season for the Bruins. The forward’s 33 goals, 24 assists and 57 points all marked career highs. The 26-year-old will try to build off that momentum going into the 2025-26 season, but won’t change too much about what worked so well for him last year.
“I’m just trying to come in and (I’m) not trying to change myself too much,” he said. “Just try to do the best I can for the team.
“Taking on responsibility like that is something that kind of comes with the territory of evolving your game and being someone to be relied upon,” Geekie added. “So for me, I think I’m trying to grow into that.”
Geekie had to quickly grow last year. After being healthy scratched and having his name in trade rumors, Geekie became an integral part to the offense thanks in part to the chemistry found with Pastrnak and Lindholm.
And even though the trio proved to be an offensive juggernaut, Geekie won’t push Marco Sturm to keep them together if the new coach has another vision.
“We had a lot of success toward the end of the year, and if that is something that he sees as important to the team, then our line stays together and that’s how it’s going to be,” Geekie said. “But I’m not kinda stuck (on) playing with (just) those two guys. That’s something that I’ve always been able to do: jump around a little bit. Wherever I fall in the lineup, that’s where I’m going to do my best to bring it every night.”
