Morgan Geekie is off to the Pacific Northwest.
In a somewhat shocking move, the Seattle Kraken selected the 22-year-old Geekie during Wednesday night's expansion draft, passing on Nino Niederreiter and Jake Bean, among others.
Geekie, a third-round pick by the Hurricanes in 2017, became a regular part of the Canes lineup during the past season--often playing on the fourth line and with the second powerplay unit. The Manitoba native can play Center or Wing.
Geekie recently signed a one-year contract extension with Carolina on July 16th.
Most predictions had Seattle selecting either Jake Bean (a defenceman and former first-round pick in 2016) or Nino Niederreiter (a 10-year NHL veteran who has posted multiple 20-goal seasons).
However, Seattle GM Ron Francis took a different path--selecting Geekie, a young forward who's only played 38 NHL games and scored 13 points.
Geekie figures to play a depth role on the Kraken, who also selected veteran forwards like Jordan Eberle, Joonas Donskoi, Calle Jarnkrok, and Yanni Gourde.
Although Carolina fans will be sad to see Geekie go, holding on to both Bean and Niederreiter has to be seen as a better-than-expected outcome for the Canes.
If there is a downside, it would have to be that freeing up Geekie's modest cap hit (less than $1m/year) will not offer much help in signing Carolina's numerous free agents, such as Dougie Hamilton, Andrei Svechnikov, and Brock McGinn.
But those are problems for another day. Carolina fans can now look ahead to Friday night's NHL entry draft with the knowledge that one of the team's top scorers (Niederreiter) and one of the team's top young defencemen (Bean) remain on the roster.
All things considered, Don Waddell and Canes' management have to be happy with the result. You never want to lose an asset without any compensation. Yet knowing that someone had to be lost, Carolina has navigated this situation about as well as possible.
They've lost a fourth-line player with fewer than 40 NHL games played while retaining a top-6 forward and a young defenceman that can quarterback a powerplay unit.
Full List of Seattle's Expansion Draft Picks:
Anaheim: D Haydn Fleury
Arizona: F Tyler Pitlick
Boston: D Jeremy Lauzon
Buffalo: D Will Borgen
Calgary: D Mark Giordano
Carolina: F Morgan Geekie
Chicago: F John Quenneville
Colorado: F Joonas Donskoi
Columbus: D Gavin Bayreuther
Dallas: D Jamie Oleksiak
Detroit: D Dennis Cholowski
Edmonton: D Adam Larsson
Florida: G Chris Driedger
Los Angeles: D Kurtis MacDermid
Minnesota: D Carson Soucy
Montreal: D Cale Fleury
Nashville: F Calle Jarnkrok
New Jersey: F Nathan Bastian
New York Islanders: F Jordan Eberle
New York Rangers: F Colin Blackwell
Ottawa: G Joey Daccord
Philadelphia: F Carsen Twarynski
Pittsburgh: F Brandon Tanev
San Jose: F Alexander True
St. Louis: D Vince Dunn
Tampa Bay: F Yanni Gourde
Toronto: F Jared McCann
Vancouver: F Kole Lind
Washington: G Vitek Vanecek
Winnipeg: F Mason Appleton
Full career details on Morgan Geekie from the Hurricanes website:
"Geekie, 22, registered nine points (3g, 6a) in 36 NHL games during the regular season and skated in three playoff games with the Hurricanes in 2020-21. The 6'2", 192-pound forward also played two games with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL), posting five points (4g, 1a) and earning AHL Player of the Week honors. Geekie has registered 13 points (6g, 7a) in 38 career NHL/Hurricanes games since making his NHL debut with Carolina on March 8, 2020. He has also recorded 93 points (45g, 48a) in 130 AHL games with Chicago and Charlotte, adding 18 points (8g, 10a) in 19 playoff games as the Checkers captured their first Calder Cup in 2019. The Strathclair, Man., native was drafted by the Hurricanes in the third round, 67th overall, of the 2017 NHL Draft."
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