BOSTON — David Pastrnak, who knows something about pumping pucks in nets, believes Morgan Geekie can score 50 goals in a season. Boston Bruins coach Marco Sturm thinks Geekie has the best release on the team. The left wing is currently the team’s leading goal scorer.
Yet during practice last Monday, Geekie swapped the usual Adam Oates stick-blade curve for a Nikita Kucherov model.
“Some guys use the same curve their whole life,” Geekie said. “I just start looking at it, and I just don’t like looking at it anymore.”
Geekie has scored 36 goals in 2025. Through Sunday, only Pastrnak (38) had more.
This is a development the Carolina Hurricanes, who drafted Geekie in the third round in 2017, did not foresee when they did not protect him in the 2021 expansion draft. The Seattle Kraken were similarly cloudy about Geekie’s future when they declined to issue him a qualifying offer two years later.
If they were being honest, not even the Bruins would have projected Geekie to become Pastrnak’s goal-scoring peer when they signed him to a two-year, $4 million contract on July 1, 2023. So how did this happen?
Geekie’s stick and his philosophies regarding it play a part in his explosion.
Making the switch
Sturm has learned quickly that he can ride Geekie hard. He has given Geekie 17:53 of ice time per game in 2025-26, a career high by almost a minute and second-most among team forwards after Pastrnak.
At five-on-five, Sturm has used Geekie at No. 1 left wing and No. 3 right wing. On the power play, Geekie rotates between the strong-side flank and the off-side elbow. He has the green light to shoot from everywhere.
“The quickness, the speed and the accuracy,” Sturm said of Geekie’s release. “It’s a dangerous combination. I wish I had that. Not too many players have that.”
After Geekie’s 33-goal explosion in 2024-25, the question was whether he could sustain his results. He had buried 22 percent of his shots in his breakout season. It was the second-highest shooting percentage among NHL forwards with 150 or more shots, trailing only Brayden Point’s 22.2 percent.
This season, Geekie’s aim has been even truer. He is at 28.2 percent, tied for fourth-highest among league forwards with 30 or more shots through Sunday, behind Cole Caufield (30.8), Kiefer Sherwood (30.3) and tied with Sidney Crosby.
His stick is doing a lot of the work.
Every Christmas, Craig Geekie bought Morgan, the oldest of his three boys, a new CCM. It usually lasted the year.
Even after his first full NHL season, the right-shot Geekie did not consider switching from CCM until Bauer sent him samples. Geekie liked the look of the Bauer blade as much as how it worked. It has become his preferred stick.
“The top line of the blade looks thicker,” Geekie said of the CCM Jetspeed FT3 Pro, which he last used in 2021-22 with Seattle. “I feel like it just gets a bit clunky. That’s kind of what I got sick of. You see somebody use the Bauer, and the top line is really thin.”
Geekie’s current Bauer model is the Vapor Flylite. He has an 87 flex. His Oates curve is a modification of the P92, known to previous generations as the Joe Sakic.
Geekie likes the curve’s balance: thin blade, flat heel. He grew up settling the puck on his heel and letting it roll up to his toe. Now, under ideal circumstances, he wants the puck three-quarters of the way down the blade when he lets it rip. Accuracy is his priority.
“I just find I can go left or right from there and just use my hands,” Geekie said. “You see (Connor) Bedard and those guys, they shoot and they’re really good at pulling it in. I just find that having it inside the stick a little more, I can push it out too. So you can still do that move. You have it inside, you can get inside the puck a little bit and shoot it the other way.”
It helps that Geekie can also bring the heat. On Oct. 27, he whistled a 100.86 mph one-timer on net against the Ottawa Senators. It was the NHL’s third-fastest shot this season through Sunday.
Geekie’s one-timer has even surprised its owner. In 2023-24, the first-year Bruin took only nine slap shots. Last year, he was credited with 14. He has five so far this season.
“I didn’t really have a one-timer until a year ago,” Geekie said. “Didn’t think I did.”
Like with his wrist shot, Geekie thinks about the placement of his one-timer as much as the speed. If he has time, he will settle the puck momentarily and aim for his spot before striking a one-timer.
For as precise as Geekie’s shooting has been, you would think he would stick with what works. But he is always looking for more.
Morgan Geekie says he “didn’t really have a one-timer until a year ago.” (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Aesthetics matter
Geekie is a visual person. Last season, he was fond of the blue graphics on his stick. They are not available this season.
“I guess they don’t sell it anymore,” Geekie said of his previous Bauer Twitch. “So it’s a marketing thing that you can’t use it. So I have a black one. I was giving them a hard time: ‘I would really enjoy if I could just keep this blue one. I know it’s not team colors, but I used it all of last year.’ That’s the only thing.”
Geekie’s sense of visual keenness extends to his blade. He will switch between black and white tape. He will also use different patterns of tape jobs. In his mind, aesthetic differences can make his stick feel better.
“Sometimes if I feel like my stick is a little short, I’ll just tape half the blade so it makes it look a little longer. Then it feels a little longer,” said Geekie. “Or you take something off the top of your knob. Like with the tape, you just make it a little thinner so you don’t have as much leverage. It doesn’t feel as small. It feels a little longer.”
The Kucherov curve Geekie tried has more toe than the Oates. Part of the reason Geekie gave it a spin was to see whether it could help him pick up pucks on the wall.
But the bigger reason goes back to Geekie’s vision. He tried the Kucherov curve in warmups before the Bruins’ game last Tuesday against the New York Islanders. But he used the Oates during the game. Experimenting with the Kucherov helped him feel more at home with his usual curve.
“Kucherov uses a Patrick Kane stick for warmups. Then he uses his regular curve for the game,” Geekie said. “It’s kind of the same thing. You get a good switch, then maybe you feel the puck a little better or differently. Like (Alex) Ovechkin tapes his whole stick for warmups. Then he only tapes half of it for the game. Everybody has their little thing.”
Geekie estimates he uses approximately 100 sticks per season. If he doesn’t like the feel of one, he will usually keep it for practice. But if there is one that seems just right, he’ll try to keep it alive for as long as possible.
“I had one a couple games ago. I still have it,” Geekie said. “It’s pretty beat up. I don’t want to use it anymore. But every time I go back to it, it’s my favorite one I have. I just keep it there. I keep it just in case I need a spark or something.”
