Martin Nečas out, Morgan Geekie in: A proposed offer sheet and sign-and-trade

Morgan Geekie: Mr. Versatility

Morgan Geekie — and his brother Conor — are the only two people from Strathclair, Manitoba to play in the NHL. After parts of five seasons with the WHL's Tri-City Americans, the Carolina Hurricanes drafted him in the third round, 67th overall, of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. In his first pro season in 2018-19, spent with the Charlotte Checkers, he helped the Checkers win the Calder Cup. In 2019-20, Geekie made his NHL debut with Carolina, putting up four points in just two games. Apart from two games with Carolina's new affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, in the following season, he has maintained a spot in an NHL roster every year since.

A note on Corsi and WAR:

- CF%: a breakdown of a player's impact on the team's overall shot generation while said player is on the ice. It's a similar stat to plus-minus, but it is far more intuitive. A good CF% is anything above 50%. If a player has a CF% of 60%, that translates to their team generating 60% of the shot attempts vs. the other team's 40%.



- WAR%: a representation of a player's individual impact on their team's collective success. WAR, on its own, indicates the amount of wins a team generated because of the player's contributions, with the baseline metric of 0 being league average. If a player has a 4 WAR, it means that the team won four more games than they would have if a league-average player was used instead. A negative WAR indicates that the player is below league average. WAR% takes this a step further, breaking down 10 individual statistic percentages into one number, which represents how much better a player is than the rest of the players at his position. If a right winger has a WAR% of 60, they are better than 60% of all right wingers in the league.

He has played a pair of seasons for a trio of NHL teams: the Carolina Hurricanes, Seattle Kraken, and Boston Bruins. He is a player motivated to produce and to reward the team that takes on his next contract, and he's got all the momentum in the world after playing a pivotal role on a rebuilding Original Six team.

Geekie can play any forward position and has found past success on all four lines. Additionally, he has been utilized on both the powerplay and the penalty kill throughout his career. This impressive adaptability makes Geekie a valuable, versatile option, and he's found steady success, despite the frequency with which he has wound up on new teams.

He has improved his offensive output in each of the six seasons he has played:

While that trend will invariably regress at some point, and while he has commensurately played more games in each of those six seasons, Geekie is relishing his newfound success and the influx of goal-scoring that landed him on the Bruins' top line for most of last season. Scoring 33 goals as a developing 26 year old forward in a contract year is something that will lead to a solid contract, likely with the Bruins, heading into the 2025-26 season.

The main obstacle pertaining to the Avs signing Geekie is the likelihood of him staying put with the B's. Geekie played big minutes in Beantown, often on the first line alongside Pavel Zacha and David Pastranak. His strong showing during his sophomore campaign as a Bruin may have been enough for Boston's big brass to commit to him long-term, especially as the team enters a new era of overhaul and identity-finding in the post-Marchand, Chara, Bergeron, and Krejci years. Geekie is the kind of player primed for a team like Boston.

With Nečas seemingly heading to free agency, Geekie would slot in as a second-line right-winger, but he's got mobility and can be successful anywhere in the lineup. This will be helpful for the Avs as they work to find new line chemistry with after the free agency window opens and teams' identities begin to re-form.

So, Geekie would be a fit in Colorado, yes. How might The Avs pry him out from under the spoked-B in Boston, though?