The trade deadline is less than a week away, and things aren’t looking so hot for the Bruins. They just recently broke a five-game losing streak that included their first three games after returning to play from the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. They did get points in two of those games since the losses came in overtime, but they still sit in sixth place in the Atlantic Division, outside of a playoff spot.
Even before their most recent losses, all signs pointed toward the Bruins either standing pat at the deadline or being sellers. Now it’s become increasingly apparent that their Stanley Cup chances look to be getting further and further away. This team needs a change. How much of a change they need to make is up for debate, but at least something has to give.
The Bruins being sellers at the trade deadline would not be the worst decision for the team, and it’s been a debated topic for the last few months. This, of course, brings up questions about if they decide to trade guys, who should it be? The names that get brought up the most are Morgan Geekie, Trent Frederic, and Justin Brazeau, all of whom will be free agents this summer. It’s not the worst idea to trade away one of them, especially since the team probably won’t want to re-sign all three (nor should they if they want to commit to making changes).
There are merits to re-signing and trading away all three guys, but for now, let’s focus on Geekie, who recently spoke to the media about his desire to stay in Boston.
Argument to Re-Sign Geekie
Geekie’s skills are obvious. He’s come a long way from questions about whether or not he’d ever be a full-time NHL player during his tenure with the Carolina Hurricanes to the massive improvements he’s made on the ice in the past two seasons in Boston. Yes, this season was a rough start for him that included a few healthy scratches. But he has completely turned it around and is a real bright spot for the team in a disappointing 2024-25 season. Geekie currently sits at 19 goals and 32 points in 56 games.
One of the most exciting aspects of Geekie is that it doesn’t seem like he’s hit his NHL peak yet. He had a career year with the Seattle Kraken in 2021-22 when he had 22 points in 73 games. Then he surpassed that the following season with 28 points in 69 games. Last season, his first with the Bruins, he hit career highs again, nearly doubling his goal output with 17, and 39 total points in 76 games. In 2024-25, with 21 games to go, he’s already hit a new high in goals (19) and is currently sitting at 32 points, on pace to finish with around 43. He’s setting new career highs even in a season where he had a truly abysmal start, so there is still belief that he could continue to climb, and he is certainly an intriguing player that a team would want to hold onto.
Wanting to be part of the Bruins also goes a long way, and Geekie is expressing that interest in a season where things are not going the team’s way. They’ve been through a coaching change and injuries, and are facing the reality that their eight-season playoff streak may come to an end. If he still desires to stick around Boston even after a rougher season, that’s a good sign of his character and commitment to the Bruins.
Geekie turns 27 this year, so he’s still in the prime of his career. Yes, he may not be a superstar, but he is proving to be one of those necessary, reliable players that a team needs to build out from their core group. He’s the type of guy the Bruins have been struggling to find in the past few seasons, and it would be tough to see them let him go and take a risk on an unknown, similar type of player when Geekie’s already here.
Benefits to Trading Geekie
Right now, Geekie has a fair amount of value and could garner some decent assets at the trade deadline. He has a higher point-per-game (P/G) average so far this season (0.56) than Tyler Bertuzzi did in 2022-23 (.48) before the Bruins gave up a first-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick to acquire him. It isn’t out of this world to believe that Geekie could garner a first-round pick. As it’s been said, the Bruins need more high-end prospects, and two first-round picks could go a long way towards building out the prospect pool more.
There’s also the fact that while Geekie may be saying he wants to stay in Boston, the money doesn’t always work out. The Bruins already have several big contracts on their books for the next several seasons, so even with the cap expected to rise fairly significantly this season, there is a chance that he may play so well that he’ll play himself right out of the team’s price range.
By the time free agency rolls around this summer, another team could offer him more money and term than the Bruins could afford. Last season, there was a similar conversation around Jake DeBrusk, and the team decided to roll the dice to keep him around for the playoffs on the risk that he leaves in free agency and Boston gets nothing. This is exactly what happened, and I think losing DeBrusk hurt them this season more than anyone is talking about. This is especially true when remembering the team did almost nothing to replace him, nor did they get any potential assets a trade deadline deal would have garnered.
With the playoffs looking farther and farther away and the loss of DeBrusk still being felt, I think it will be harder for the Bruins’ front office to justify not trading Geekie at the deadline if they aren’t at least close to or in the conversation of an extension. With the team’s current state, losing two important supporting pieces in back-to-back seasons without getting anything in return is only going to make things worse.
Bruins in Tricky Spot
If the Bruins are going to do a complete rebuild, then trading Geekie would honestly be the right decision, especially because they could probably get a first-round pick or high-end prospect at the deadline. The issue, though, is that the Bruins can’t afford to do a full rebuild, nor should they when they have a great core group of players signed long-term in the prime of their careers. They’re also not necessarily bad enough to warrant a complete rebuild. Similar to what they did in the 2015 and 2016 era, the team needs to figure out how to rebuild on the fly, or retool, as that seems to be the word tossed around a lot these days.
To retool, or rebuild on the fly, the Bruins need to make some major changes between now and next season. David Pastrnak, Hampus Lindholm, and Charlie McAvoy are all safe. Jeremy Swayman is having a rough season, but he should hopefully rebound in 2025-26 and is also safe, given his contract. Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm have not worked out as well as anyone would have hoped, but their contracts are too big at the moment to be moved. So there is your core to build around right there, with young guys like Matthew Poitras and Mason Lohrei also thrown in.
Everyone else is up for debate, and when looking at Geekie, if the Bruins want to bounce back quickly, he is a guy to keep around. As mentioned earlier, he is one of the few guys playing well this season and still hasn’t plateaued yet, meaning he could be capable of getting 50-plus points in a season. If they could extend him on a three to four-year deal with reasonable terms, he would be a great guy to build out the roster around the core.
It all ultimately comes down to how the Bruins perceive themselves, and how much they think needs to change to be a competitive threat again next season or the following one. What they decide to do with Geekie, whether it’s an extension before this July or a trade this week, will tell a lot about how the front office sees the team.
