This season, Morgan Geekie has been a bright spot for the Bruins. And with key players out of the lineup, his production has become even more important.
With linemate David Pastrnak out for a fourth straight game with a lower-body injury, Geekie shouldered a leading role in the Bruins’ offense in Boston’s 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Geekie finished the game with three points, assisting on the Bruins’ first goal of the night by Alex Steeves, scoring their second goal, and assisting on the fifth goal by Pavel Zacha on the power play.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm spoke about Geekie’s recent contributions after the Bruins’ win Thursday:
“I always like when guys step up, even when one of the top linemates are missing,” Sturm said. “He's feeling really good right now, too. He has that touch, he’s in the right spot. You can tell he’s very loose. With his hands and release, you name it. It’s fun to watch.”
By adding those three points, Geekie jumped over Pastrnak for the team lead in points with 31, and is now 10 goals ahead of Pastrnak with 21 goals. Geekie also remains second in the NHL in goals behind Nathan MacKinnon.
But, Geekie’s persistent scoring this season hasn’t just helped him achieve those individual accomplishments; it also has been pivotal for the team’s success as a whole.
As Geekie continues to rack up points and provide production in the absence of Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy, it sparks the question: Where would the Bruins be without Geekie this season? How many of his goals were the difference in a win? What would the team’s record be if the Bruins didn’t extend Geekie this offseason?
One way to try to measure that would be Evolving-Hockey’s “standing points above replacement” metric, which is essentially a hockey version of baseball’s WAR stat. Geekie has been worth 2.5 standing points above replacement, which ranks top 20 in the NHL and is nearly double any other Bruin. The Bruins are tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference with 32 points after Thursday, but if you took away 2.5 points, they would be 13th.
With his 31 points, Geekie has factored in on 34% of the Bruins’ goals this season, the most of any Bruin. Geekie is on pace for 59 goals this season, which would smash his career high of 33 goals from last year. With his 31 points in 29 games, he’s on pace to have an 88-point season, which would also far exceed his previous high of 57.
If Geekie keeps it up, he could have a career year in many different stat categories. And if he can keep producing while the team gets healthy, he can help keep the Bruins within reach of a playoff spot as McAvoy and Pastrnak heal.