The Bruins have taken care of an important bit of in-house business before the start of free agency on Tuesday.
The B’s inked Morgan Geekie to a six-year deal with an average annual value of $5.5 million late Sunday night.
That’s solid value for a player who broke out in one of the few success stories of the 2024-25 Bruins season, exploding for a 33-goal season while skating with David Pastrnak. He finished second on the team with 57 points.
While some have questioned whether Geekie can replicate that kind of goal scoring because of his unusually high shooting percentage (22%), he does have an excellent shot, both a wrister and one-time slap shot. After notching a career-high in goals with 17 in his first season with the Bruins in 2023-24, he caught fire after Thanksgiving last season after a very slow start that saw him as a healthy scratch several times early in the season.
The Geekie signing could turn out to be one of the great finds of GM Don Sweeney’s tenure. Just two summers ago, he was cast aside by the Seattle Kraken, who did not tender him a qualifying offer, thus making him an unrestricted free agent. The B’s scooped him up with a two-year deal worth $2 million per season.
Less than a week ago, it appeared as though this negotiation might take a while. Last Wednesday, Sweeney said that the two sides were not close to a deal. But things happen fast this time of year. Geekie was scheduled to be a restricted free agent and thus could have been exposed to an offer sheet, which no doubt played a part in pushing to get this done before the start of free agency on Tuesday.
According to puckpedia.com, the breakdown of the deal is as follows: Year 1, $2.75 million base salary, $2.5 million signing bonus; Year 2, $4 million base $2.5 million signing bonus and a no-trade clause kicks in; Year 3, $4.5 million base, $2 million signing bonus, 17-team NTC; Year 4, $4.5 million base, $1 million bonus, 12-team NTC; Year 5, $5 million base, 6-team NTC; Year 6, $4.25 million.
There is also late word that RFA John Beecher, the B’s first-round pick in 2019 (30th overall), will also return for at least another year, though the details of his deal are not yet known.
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