According to PuckPedia, the Seattle Kraken and RFA forward Morgan Geekie have reached an agreement on a one-year, $1.4MM contract, thus avoiding arbitration (link). Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also believes the deal to be in place (link). Geekie had been one of the 24 players who had elected salary arbitration ahead of last Sunday’s deadline to do so (link), and was scheduled for an August 11th hearing on the matter (link). After the acquisition of forward Oliver Bjorkstrand from the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Geekie contract, Seattle is left with just over $2.2MM in available salary cap space.
A third-round draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017, Geekie was an offensive force in the WHL, tallying as much as 90 and 84 points as a member of the Tri-City Americans. After turning pro for the 2019-20 season, Geekie again impressed with his offensive output, recording 46 points in 73 games in his pro debut as a member of the Charlotte Checkers. Geekie also made his NHL debut with the Hurricanes, scoring three goals with an assist in just two games in the regular season and was even trusted to play eight playoff games as well. The forward failed to take a meaningful step forward in 2020-21, however, with just nine points in 36 NHL games.
Despite not being able to continue the breakout, geekie was still rather valuable, at least enough for the Kraken to select him from the Hurricanes in their expansion draft. The brand new Kraken gave Geekie the full NHL experience in 2021-22, having him play 73 games. Still not exactly his AHL or WHL production, Geekie did take a small step forward with 22 points this season. Now giving him a raise from his previous $750K cap hit, Seattle will hope Geekie can tap into some of his prior success as the organization looks to keep climbing the standings.
I’d’ve taken Donato, but what do I know?! Geekie’s got the better build and may be a bit stronger defensively, but Donny has the inner fire to win. Can’t really teach that.
They prefer flexibility over winning