Early Opportunity Could be Knocking for New Bolt Conor Geekie
Absent further roster moves during the offseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning will look very shallow up front to start the 2024-25 campaign. Conor Geekie could be the beneficiary.
Arguably the biggest thing that killed the Tampa Bay Lightning’s hopes of another championship run last season was the lack of forward depth that plagued the roster through most of the year. Heck, Nikita Kucherov built an entire MVP nomination case on the back of the fact that the supporting cast around him was largely invisible. For the Bolts to compete at the highest echelon of the sport again, it is abundantly clear that they need a more balanced forward roster.
It was purportedly with that goal of competing in mind that Lightning GM Julien BriseBois made the difficult choice to move off Steven Stamkos when free agency opened on July 1. BriseBois said as much in his post-July 1 press conference:
Obviously, Stammer is sincere in all of his statements saying that he wanted to stay in Tampa. ... At the same time, it was clear throughout our process he also had financial expectations that he expected us to meet and, ultimately, I felt ... if I agreed to the terms that he wanted in order to get a deal done, I would not be putting ourselves in the best position to chase championships going forward.
After replacing Stamkos with Jake Guentzel and Mikhail Sergachev with the returning Ryan McDonagh, however, it’s difficult to suggest that this version of the Bolts is that much closer to a championship than the one that fell short last season. The projected forward lines for this group, courtesy of DailyFaceoff.com, don’t look materially better than last year’s crew:
Guentzel is most likely an incremental five-on-five upgrade on Stamkos, but that’s an upgrade at the fringes. That’s an upgrade that takes an almost-there roster and pushes it over the edge. The trouble for Tampa Bay is that the team that ended 2023-24 didn’t look like it was all that close to competing with the best of the best for large stretches of the year. When Cam Atkinson, who was healthy scratched by the middling Philadelphia Flyers on multiple occasions last year, is projected as a top-six winger, it speaks to a lack of depth. When Conor Sheary, who looked like a ghost on many nights last season, is a top-nine winger, it speaks to a lack of depth. There’s a clear need for at least one additional middle-six winger on this club.
Enter: Conor Geekie, who took to the ice in a Lightning jersey for the first time at development camp earlier this week.
If none of the rumored “other moving parts” are going to become reality via trade or free agency, that glaring need for another middle-six winger looks like a flashing neon sign reading “OPPORTUNITY” for Geekie. At only 20 years old, the 11th overall pick from the 2022 draft is still very raw. He’s played a grand total of two professional games, both playoff games with the Tucson Roadrunners last season. Nevertheless, there’s a lot about his profile that suggests he could fast-track his way to NHL games for the Lightning.
Coming out of the 2022 draft class, Geekie was widely regarded as a high-IQ player with elite offensive skills and a strong two-way game. Oh, and he’s a giant with NHL-ready size. That profile of player is exactly what Jon Cooper and Co. should be looking for in their middle-six ranks. And, while he’s naturally a centerman, Geekie wouldn’t be the first young pivot to ease into the NHL on the wing. As an additional bonus for the Lightning in that respect, Nick Paul can play either up the middle or on the wing, so there would be opportunity to shift Geekie as need or development demands.
Of course, no prospect or player is perfect. The knock on Geekie coming out of his draft year was that he’s a weak skater. The Lightning have heard that story about uber-talented prospects before. Remember when Brayden Point slid all the way to the third round, in part because his skating was perceived as weak? This organization has a proven track record of getting their prospects the skating development they need to turn that weakness into a strength. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for Geekie to have a productive summer training, such that his skating is passable at the NHL level as early as October. Weak-skater Point was drafted in 2014 and was ready to play 68 games for the Bolts in 2016-17; Geekie playing games for the Lightning this year after being drafted in 2022 would follow a similar development timeline.
With all this said, it’s important to remember that it’s only July 4th and the team still has cap space to work with. There is plenty of time for Julien BriseBois to make other moves or bolster his roster before the puck drops on the 2024-25 campaign. In fact, if he’s true to his word that moving on from Stamkos was done to ensure he is able to build a championship roster, he might have to if he wants to save face. With the way things stand now, though, it’s hard not to hear the massive opportunity knocking on Conor Geekie’s door.
As always, thanks for reading.
It may sound crazy, but bring back Tyler Johnson from the wilderness. I bet he would sign for cheap. We could have given the Girgensens money or Atkinson's. At worst, I bet Johnson would sign for less than $2m. The longer he sits unclaimed, the cheaper he gets. Looking at his numbers last season, he's certainly better than Sheary, Atkinson, or the Zemgus.
And bring back his old goal song and it will soothe some of the fans nostalgia.