Coyotes begin their college years at Mullett Arena
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TEMPE, Ariz. — Nick Bjugstad took the ice for the first time at Mullett Arena on Thursday, the college hockey rink that will house the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes for at least the next three seasons.
He noticed its roughly 5,000 seats. The ones fans will pay not less than $100 to occupy, unless they’re part of the 200 to 400 Arizona State University students paying $25 to sit in the arena’s student section.
He noticed the “Fear The Fork” sign on the wall, the Sun Devils logo on the ice and all the other evidence that an NHL team is now sharing a barn with an NCAA Division I college program.
But mostly, Bjugstad noticed how clean and compact it all looked.
“The intimate setting is something we’ll try to use to our advantage. But we still don’t know what to expect,” said Bjugstad, an 11-year NHL veteran. “We’ll show up, play the same game. I mean, we’re playing in the NHL. There are no complaints.”
After 18 years playing in Glendale, the Coyotes play their first game at a temporary home in Tempe on Friday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Coyotes have a contract to play the next three seasons and potentially a fourth at ASU while they hope a new arena in Tempe is approved and constructed.
Their home opener follows six regular-season games and an entire preseason on the road. Mullett Arena — named for a family that has supported the Sun Devils’ Division I hockey program and the inspiration for a hockey mullet giveaway on opening night — officially opened in early October and hosted its first ASU men’s hockey games on Oct. 14 and 15.
“It’s loud. It’s really loud. The atmosphere was as good as anywhere we’ve played in college hockey,” said Greg Powers, head coach of the Sun Devils, who also noted the speed of the ice was and how “bouncy” the boards are.
Many of the Coyotes players have experienced hockey in smaller buildings, whether it was in juniors or in college or in the minor leagues. To have this kind of setting for an NHL game is something they can’t quite process yet.
“We’re excited. We’re curious. If the fans are into it, that will be a unique experience and a lot of emotion out there,” said Andre Tourigny, the Coyotes’ head coach. “I coached for a long time. If you asked me about the great crowds, you would be shocked. Because it would not be Madison Square Garden. It would be small barns where people are on top of you, and there’s emotion and it’s intimidating.”
Since 2009-10, the Coyotes averaged over 14,000 tickets distributed at their former home in Glendale just once — in the 2019-20 season, when they averaged 14,606. Last season, with the team squarely in a rebuild, that average dropped to 11,601 fans.
The crowds will be smaller at ASU, but the enthusiasm could spike. Coyotes president and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez said it will be “an unprecedented experience” in the NHL.
“It is going to be loud. It’s going to be electric. Right over my shoulder is going to be a student section,” he said, pointing to the concrete bleachers where everyone from a marching band to former Coyote and current TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette are expected to hang. “You’re going to have that youthful exuberance every single night bringing that energy.”
How the Coyotes ended up in this boisterous new barn is one of the wildest journeys in recent pro sports history.
From “The Point” (6-7pm ESPN2 every Tuesday)…I asked NHL players about playing NHL games at the @ArizonaCoyotes @SunDevilHockey #cawlidgehawkey rink…. pic.twitter.com/ksIQSjeit6
— BucciParmPastaExtension8X11 (@Buccigross) October 27, 2022
THE COYOTES’ FORMER home went by many names: Glendale Arena, Jobing.com Arena, Gila River Arena and now the Desert Diamond Arena. It was the city-owned facility where the Coyotes played for 18 seasons after moving from America West Arena out to Glendale in 2003. Owner Steve Ellman, a real estate developer, wanted to build in Scottsdale. That didn’t pan out, so it was off to the West Valley.
Ellman sold the team to trucking magnate Jerry Moyes two years later. Moyes eventually put the Coyotes into bankruptcy in an effort to sell the franchise to BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie, who was going to move them to Hamilton in Canada. That led to the NHL stripping Moyes of his authority as an owner and the league running the Coyotes until a new owner could be found.
The next decade saw owners, real and potential, come and go. There was a moment when it looked like the team would relocate to Seattle, years before the Kraken would join the NHL. The ownership carousel stopped in July 2019, when hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway sold his controlling interest to billionaire Alex Meruelo, who owns the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, and the Sahara Las Vegas in Las Vegas.
Throughout that decade, the relationship between the Coyotes and the city of Glendale fractured beyond repair. Starting in 2016, the team and the city began a series of one-year lease extensions, despite the Coyotes asking for multiyear extensions. In August 2021, Glendale announced that it was terminating the relationship with the team, effectively evicting the Coyotes from their arena.
“With an increased focus on larger, more impactful events and uses of the city-owned arena, the city of Glendale has chosen to not renew the operating agreement for the Arizona Coyotes beyond the coming 2021-22 season,” the city said in a statement.
The Coyotes said they were determined to remain in Arizona. Their focus was on building a new arena and an entertainment district on city-owned land in Tempe. In the meantime, they needed a place to play. They found a temporary home at Arizona State University’s new multipurpose arena, which would be ready — for the most part — by the 2022-23 NHL season. The Coyotes signed a contract to play at ASU’s 5,000-seat arena for the next three seasons, with an option for a fourth.
“Obviously, this is a temporary solution. We always want to be very clear that our goal is about a mile and a half down Rio Salado Parkway for the permanent facility,” Gutierrez said.
ASU’s $134.7 million project required the Coyotes to absorb $19.7 million in add-ons to make the space NHL-ready. That included a 15,000 gross-square-foot annex built next to the arena that would house NHL-quality locker rooms and training facilities for both the Coyotes and away teams. Gutierrez believes that Meruelo’s total investment is much higher than that.
“If you had an owner who spent $30 million for a temporary solution while he is trying to spend $2 billion for a permanent solution, that should show you the commitment, that should show you the resources and that should show you his will to win,” he said.
As the Coyotes open their multiyear run at Mullett Arena, the team will get a definitive answer on their new arena soon. The Tempe City Council voted in favor of a bid last month to move forward on negotiations for the new arena and entertainment district. The Tempe project has been estimated at $1.7 billion.
Gutierrez said there are three public hearings on the calendar for November regarding the Tempe arena bid, and a vote from the city council will come on Nov. 29.
Even if the arena is approved, the Coyotes aren’t sure when shovels will be in the ground.
“The reality is you do have a potential for litigation and you do have the potential for any referendum that could be called for that. But as far as the city of Tempe’s approval process that is the vote to approve it,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez has said the team also has alternate plans around the Tempe site for “Plan B and Plan C,” but that it is confident the current project is the right one. One thing the Coyotes have made clear: They plan on remaining in Arizona and have the support of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to continue to find solutions.
WHEN THINGS WERE going sideways in Glendale, Greg Powers heard the Coyotes were inquiring about temporarily moving to Arizona State.
“Personally, I never thought it would happen. The building was designed for Arizona State hockey and college hockey,” the Sun Devils coach said.
He said he wasn’t worried about the impact the Coyotes’ arrival would have on things like scheduling for the Sun Devils.
“It was never a concern. Not to be too contrite, but it’s our building,” he said. “It will always be our building. It was built for us. It was constructed and came into effect because of our donors. So there was never even a doubt that we wouldn’t get scheduling priority in that building. ASU made that abundantly clear to me, from the infant stages of their conversations.”
Powers added that the Sun Devils already have their schedule set for next season as well.
That priority is a reason why the Coyotes have only two Saturday night home games from October 2022 through March 2023, while they have nine Sunday home games.
There was also a conflict about using locker room facilities before the annex is finished. The Coyotes are using the road team dressing room at Mullett Arena, meaning that their first four visiting opponents — the Jets, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars — will use a temporary locker room built atop a covered community rink inside the facility. Video of that setup, which includes free standing metal lockers and temporary walls, went viral this week when it hit social media, as other NHL fans mocked the meager arrangement.
Why couldn’t the Coyotes use the Sun Devils’ locker room? Gutierrez said it was NCAA rules compliance, but a source told ESPN that the ASU men’s hockey team simply didn’t want the hassle of moving another team’s gear in and out of their room.
Powers said it was a bit of both.
“There are some compliance concerns with rubbing elbows with [NHL players], literally sharing a locker room,” he said. “But for my standpoint, most importantly, you’re getting into this whole musical chairs thing, and that’s something I’m not interested in. It’s our locker room. All I care about is that our players aren’t displaced in any way. There’s just no good way to do it. I wish there was, but there isn’t.”
Powers is opening the ASU coaches’ offices to Tourigny and his staff before the annex is built.
The annex is one example for why it was a “no-brainer” to have the Coyotes play at ASU, according to Powers. The Coyotes have spent millions on updating the arena technology for replays and video, as well as for television broadcasts. The ice-making system was upgraded to produce an NHL-quality surface.
“They’re not going to take the building with them. When they leave, they’re going to leave behind a beautiful building with two pro dressing rooms and offices, a medical facility and some workout rooms,” he said. “We’ll have the space to maybe add club teams or maybe a women’s program. We can host NCAA regionals. It just enhances the facility in a major way. We have absolutely benefitted from this and will continue to.”
The greatest benefit, according to Power, would be to help keep an NHL team in Arizona.
“Being instrumental in helping to keep the NHL in our market. To assist and give them a temporary home until this thing in Tempe gets done is something we can be proud of,” he said. “We need the NHL. The NHL being in our market has done so much to grow the game. Look at a kid like Auston Matthews. The game has grown at an exponential pace in our market because the Coyotes are here. We want them to stay.”
And while they’re here, Powers would love to use the Coyotes to boost his program’s profile. That’s as clear as the two logos that share center ice.
“I was selfishly excited about what this does for our program. You can’t walk into that arena and not know that it [belongs to] Arizona State,” he said. “Our brand is going to get out there. That’s good for us.”
COYOTES GENERAL MANAGER Bill Armstrong has talked to his players a lot about the Mullett Arena move.
“I always tell the guys that we’re trying to become the new Tampa Bay Lightning in the league,” he said. “They were at the state where they played out of an airplane hangar at one point, and now they’re a premier franchise in the NHL. We’re trying to make that next step.”
The players have also talked to Armstrong, expressing what they wanted out of this arena.
“You know, back in my day, they told you what to do. It’s totally changed. You know, the players on our team are our partners and they’ve got to be on board with this,” he said. “You’ve got to make them a part of the process of building the training facility, dressing rooms and also coming here. We’ve tried to include ’em in every step that we’ve made.
“As I explained to them: It’s all new. There’s some really good things about it. But I told them it’s also temporary. And whenever you have ‘temporary,’ you’re always missing something. So it’s not completely perfect.”
There are small changes for the players. For example, the tickets that they can secure for friends and family at games due to the capacity.
“Yeah, they’re more expensive,” forward Clayton Keller said with a laugh. “But it’ll be a fun atmosphere.”
There are larger changes for the players, too, like the amount of time they’ll have to spend on the road early this season. The Coyotes played six road games, winning two of them, before this four-game homestand. As the annex is completed, they’ll play 14 straight games on the road before returning to Mullett on Dec. 9 to face the Boston Bruins.
“There’s a good way to look at the schedule and there’s a negative way to look at the schedule,” Armstrong said. “The negative is, you know, it’s probably the worst or the hardest schedule in the NHL off the start. But come December, we get the best schedule in the NHL. So our players are excited about that possibility of coming back and getting through the road trips and keep getting a little bit better.”
The Coyotes are a rebuilding team. Their NHL draft lottery odds for phenom Connor Bedard will likely be more compelling than their season point total.
“You know, it’s hard going through the rebuild because your players are on the ice fighting for their lives and they might not be here in three years,” Armstrong said. “So we try to really not focus on the Connor Bedard sweepstakes as an organization.
“That’s the way you have to dive into it because there’s a lot of negativity that losses can occur. It wears down the team. I think our coaching staff’s done a remarkable job at ignoring the noise and focusing in on getting better every single day. When we do that as an organization, we keep our spirit alive and we keep fighting.”
That said, Armstrong knows what a rebuilding team really needs.
“We need a little luck though. Somebody’s got to fix the [lottery] ball,” he said, with a laugh. “The Coyotes haven’t had a lot of luck with that ball dropping. So we’re going to start a new ritual. I’m a little superstitious.”
It’s all part of the Arizona Coyotes experience. A team in a temporary home, hoping for a city to approve a permanent one. A team in a temporary rebuild, hoping for the lottery balls to bounce the right way. Yet also a team in the entertainment business, hoping to turn one of the NHL’s most unique home ices to its advantage.
“It’s similar to Vegas. They came in and their arena was crazy. It’s the toughest arena to play in because it’s so loud. Maybe it’ll be an advantage for us, too,” Bjugstad said. “But it’s kind of on us to give them something to cheer about.”
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Michigan to ‘act swiftly’ if findings warrant firings
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5 hours agoon
December 18, 2025By
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Adam RittenbergDec 17, 2025, 07:56 PM ET
Close- College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.
Michigan’s investigation into its football program and wider athletic department could lead to findings of additional misconduct that might trigger more employment terminations, interim university president Domenico Grasso said Wednesday.
In a video statement, Grasso described the week since football coach Sherrone Moore’s firing as “no doubt a challenging time for our university community.”
Michigan fired Moore on Dec. 10 for engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member, discovered through a university investigation. Moore faces three criminal charges, including felony third-degree home invasion, for allegedly confronting the staff member at her residence after being fired.
Michigan’s investigation into Moore’s conduct and the football program continues, and the university commissioned Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block to conduct a larger review of the athletic department culture, conduct and procedures following a series of scandals.
“We will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that conduct like this does not happen again,” said Grasso, who took over as interim president in May and will step down when a permanent president is installed. “Make no mistake. We will leave no stone unturned, and any further action we take will be based on credible evidence and findings, developed through a rigorous investigation.
“If the university learns of information through this investigation or otherwise that warrants a termination of any employee, we will act swiftly, just as we did in the case of Coach Moore.”
Grasso encouraged those who have information regarding misconduct within the football program or athletic department to contact Jenner & Block.
“Our focus is strictly on uncovering the facts,” Grasso said. “It is my job, my duty, to ensure the integrity of this investigation.”
Grasso also briefly addressed Michigan’s search for its next football coach. Athletic director Warde Manuel, who has led the department since 2016, has not publicly addressed the search, which he is expected to lead.
Biff Poggi, a Michigan staff member under both Moore and predecessor Jim Harbaugh, is serving as interim head coach for Michigan’s upcoming Cheez-It Citrus Bowl matchup against Texas on Dec. 31.
“We will hire an individual who is of the highest moral character and who will serve as a role model and a respected leader for the entire football program,” Grasso said. “And who will, with dignity and integrity, be a fierce competitor.”
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Sources: FSG to sell Penguins to Hoffmann family
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11 hours agoon
December 17, 2025By
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Fenway Sports Group has agreed in principle to a sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Chicago-based Hoffmann family, sources confirmed to ESPN. The deal is pending approval by the NHL’s Board of Governors.
While the exact sale price was not immediately confirmed, league sources expect the deal to land between $1.7 and $1.8 billion for the Penguins. FSG bought controlling interest of the Penguins in 2021 for $900 million.
Hockey journalist Frank Seravalli was the first to report on Fenway’s agreement to sell.
The Penguins were previously owned by Ron Burkle and franchise legend Mario Lemieux, who had bought the team and saved it from bankruptcy in 1999. That group helped keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh, then the club went on to win three Stanley Cups from 2009 to 2017 with its current core player group of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. Lemieux has remained involved with the team after the sale to Fenway and his role with the new ownership group remains to be seen.
FSG’s portfolio includes several sports properties, such as Liverpool of the EPL, the Boston Red Sox of MLB, Fenway Park, NESN, RFK Racing of NASCAR and Boston Common Golf of TGL. In January, ESPN reported that Fenway was taking the Penguins to market to explore selling a minority stake — which is increasingly a common practice as NHL valuations continue to increase. Hoffmann has been in discussions with the Penguins since at least this summer, sources told ESPN.
The Hoffmann Family of Companies is a multi-generational family-owned private equity firm, whose CEO is billionaire David Hoffmann. Their broad portfolio includes more than 100 brands in real estate, manufacturing, media and agriculture among other sectors.
The group also owns the ECHL Florida Everblades, and David Hoffmann said publicly in recent years he wishes to own either an NHL or NBA franchise.
The NHL’s BOG is not scheduled to meet again until June after convening last week in Colorado Springs. However, the NHL could call a BOG meeting to vote on the sale earlier.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs in each of the past three seasons as GM Kyle Dubas embarks on a rebuild. Crosby, 37, remains one of the game’s most complete players and biggest draws; the Canadian captain has re-affirmed his commitment to Pittsburgh several times in recent years. Crosby’s current contract expires at the end of next season. Malkin, 39, is on the final year of his contract.
One of the biggest business decisions for a new owner would be how to handle the regional sports channel that broadcasts Penguins games locally. FSG and the Pittsburgh Pirates co-own and operate the current provider, Sportsnet Pittsburgh.
According Sportico’s report in October, the average NHL franchise is now worth an estimated $2.1 billion. That’s a 17 percent increase in one year and more than a 100 percent increase from 2022. The NHL projects that revenue for this season will be about $6.8 billion, commissioner Gary Bettman said last week .
After their 633-game sellout streak ended in 2021, the Penguins have seen decreased attendance in each of the past three seasons.
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Geek and destroy: How Bruins winger Morgan Geekie has defied goal-scoring regression
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11 hours agoon
December 17, 2025By
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Greg WyshynskiDec 17, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
Close- Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
Boston Bruins forward Morgan Geekie can finish a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute.
“I mean, right now I’d be pretty rusty,” he said. “I’m not insane, like those kids that you see on TV, but I’m pretty good at them.”
When Geekie was around 10 years old, a cousin taught him how to speed solve the puzzle. While some have never found a way to line up that mosaic of colors despite years of trying, Geekie said it’s doable once one cracks the code. One summer at their lake cottage, his cousin wrote down its patterns. Geekie spent two weeks memorizing them and working out solutions while fiddling with the cube.
“It’s basically just all algorithms. You just do the same moves all the time once you get the pieces in the right spot. Once you do that, I mean, it’s pretty cut and dry. Everything goes in order,” he said. “I haven’t really forgot. It’s just one of those things that once you know it, you know it.”
Perhaps Geekie just knows how to score goals now, too.
That’s the simplest rationalization for the 27-year-old’s unexpected transformation into one of the NHL’s premier goal scorers. Through 34 games, Geekie is second in the NHL with 24 goals, trailing only the dominant Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (28). Going back to the start of last season, Geekie is tied for 11th in goals scored (57).
Geekie scored 33 goals in 2024-25, which is 16 more than his previous career high set two years ago with the Bruins. He shot 22%, which obliterated his previous career best of 13.1% set in 2023-24.
There’s always an offensive player whose unexpected scoring surge in one season makes him the consensus choice for regression the following season. Entering this season, that player was Geekie.
He was the first player listed on ESPN’s rundown of regression candidates, with the expectation that he would top out at 26 goals. Sports Illustrated did the same thing, writing that his “offensive numbers are set to dip next season.” Daily Faceoff wrote that Geekie’s shooting percentage was “a strong indication that his performance isn’t sustainable, at least at this level” for the Bruins.
Geekie gets it. He called the predictions “a fair statement” given that he was scoring less than 10 goals in a season with the Seattle Kraken just a few seasons ago.
“I see it all. It’s an easy cherry to pick to be like, ‘Obviously he’s shooting 22%, it’s going to go down.’ It didn’t bother me at all,” Geekie said.
Rather than regress, Geekie has progressed this season. Through 34 games, he is shooting 28.2%.
“I mean, it’s got to go down at some point,” he said, with a laugh. “Like I said, I don’t really pay attention to that and I’m not somebody that has 10 shots a game, so I just try to make the most of my opportunities when I get the puck.”
GEEKIE IS AMUSED by the focus on his shooting percentage, because he feels there are easy explanations for it. The first is that he doesn’t believe he shoots the puck all that much. Over the past two seasons, David Pastrnak averaged 3.79 shots per game in 110 games. Geekie averaged 2.11 in that same span. Only Sidney Crosby (2.45 shots per game) has a lower average than Geekie (2.48) among the top 10 goal-scorers this season.
“I feel like I’m a big quality over quantity person,” he said.
His first season in Boston, coach Jim Montgomery stressed the need for Geekie to get chances from deep inside the attacking zone.
“I think a high-danger chance is better than just shooting it from the wall. That’s kind of the mentality that I’ve had always. I’m not trying to waste shots that aren’t good for anybody,” Geekie said. “Unless I’m trying to create something off it, I’m honestly not trying to put it on net. Maybe that’s why I end up where I end up.”
Pastrnak recently said the Bruins were reminding Geekie to shoot the puck more often. In fairness, Geekie is shooting more this season. Pastrnak said Geekie is “definitely trying to be a little more selfish to take them” when he fights into high-danger areas of the ice. But Geekie acknowledged there are sometimes philosophical differences between his striving for quality over his team’s desire for quantity.
“I think it’s a push and pull,” he said. “It’s like, I don’t think I need to be shooting this, but other people think that it still gives us an opportunity to create a chance. So I just try to keep that in mind when I have the puck”
This is Geekie’s seventh season in the NHL. He was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the 67th pick in the 2017 draft as a goal-scoring forward with the WHL Tri-City Americans. His first two seasons as a pro were mostly spent in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, before playing 36 games with the Hurricanes in 2020-21.
That summer, the Seattle Kraken held their expansion draft as the NHL’s newest team. Geekie was left off Carolina’s protected list. At the time, it wasn’t expected that former Hurricanes GM Ron Francis would select him for the Kraken, with options like defenseman Jake Bean and forward Nino Niederreiter available from Carolina. But Geekie was the choice, a player whom Francis had drafted while with the Canes.
Geekie had 22 points in 73 games in his first season in Seattle, skating 12:36 per game with just seven goals. His second campaign saw him jump to 28 points in 69 games, but with even less ice time (10:27).
He was a restricted free agent after the 2022-23 season. Francis attempted to re-sign him before the deadline for submitting qualifying offers, but Geekie and his representatives declined it. The two sides couldn’t find common ground. Rather than go to arbitration, where the Kraken weren’t keen on Geekie potentially setting the terms of his next deal, they chose not to qualify him, making him an unrestricted free agent.
“With Morgan, we did make what I felt was a pretty fair offer,” Francis said at the time, via Sound of Hockey. “It didn’t work out, and he has the right once we don’t qualify him to go elsewhere.”
And so he went to Boston, signing a two-year deal worth $4 million in total.
While he wasn’t seeing much time with the Kraken, Geekie felt he was improving as a player. He said a “integral part” of that development was thanks to Jonathan Sigalet, a skills coach who improved all facets of his game.
“When I first started working with him, he was adamant that he wasn’t going to try and make me play like I’m on the first line,” Geekie recalled. “He said, ‘We both know that trying to do things that you do on the first line on the fourth line is going to get you in the press box.'”
He said working with Siglet slowed the game down for him. He started to see the game differently. He began to see “little tendencies” that all of the NHL’s good players share. Geekie also appreciated having a “third party” assessment for his play, apart from that of his coaches and his own.
Geekie was immediately given an opportunity to thrive in Boston in 2023-24, playing 15:21 in his first game with the Bruins. He ended up averaging 15:25 per game, with 17 goals and 22 assists in 76 games. He earned time with Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha on the Bruins’ top line.
His follow-up season didn’t start well. Geekie scored one goal in his first 17 games and was a healthy scratch early in the season. Some trade whispers started about him as a pending restricted free agent. He had eight goals by the end of the 2024 calendar year.
How did he end up with 33 of them? With one of the greatest goal-scoring heaters this side of Alex Ovechkin: Geekie scored 14 goals in his last 20 games of the season. His chemistry with Pastrnak was undeniable — the Bruins scoring ace assisted on 21 of Geekie’s 33 goals last season.
Geekie expressed a desire to stay with the Bruins. The feeling was mutual, as GM Don Sweeney in June handed him a six-year, $33 million contract for a team-friendly $5.5 million annual cap hit.
WHEN GEEKIE SIGNED his new contract, he decided he wanted to join in the tradition of NHL players celebrating a windfall with their teammates. It’s usually a dinner or something of that nature.
But Geekie wanted to do something different.
“Everybody’s eating at the same restaurants in every city. And I’m sure they’d remember it for a little while, but I think it would be just one of those things like, ‘Hey, thanks for dinner.’ So I wanted to do something a little more nostalgic,” he said.
Geekie is a huge baseball fan who played competitively until his late teens. He was in the process of designing a personalized baseball glove for himself through a company called 44 Pro Custom Gloves when his wife, Emma, suggested that he design ones for all of his teammates as a gift.
Geekie started the process in July, sketching out what he wanted on the gloves for 30 teammates — including players that were on the bubble for the Bruins’ roster this season. He had the biographical information for them, from their birth cities and countries to their schools to where they played junior hockey.
“Honestly, for probably three weeks, I just sat in front of my TV watching baseball and I would just draft gloves up. I thought it was so fun,” Geekie said. “My wife got sick of me for a little while.”
He would FaceTime his brother Noah, a coach at Okotoks Dawgs Academy in Alberta, to bounce the designs off him and get input. He was cognizant of having the designs as unique as possible, despite some of the school colors being similar for his teammates.
Before a practice in October, Geekie delivered the gloves to the locker room stalls of his teammates. It went over well.
“Baseball is not that big in Sweden, but it’s obviously cool to have,” center Elias Lindholm told the Bruins website, having received a glove with a Swedish flag on it. “Hopefully, when my kids get a little bit older, we can play a little game or something. For now, it is just going to be at home, resting.”
0:17
Morgan Geekie nets goal for Bruins
Morgan Geekie nets goal for Bruins
While the gloves were a chance to celebrate with his teammates, there weren’t many celebrations anticipated for Boston this season. The Bruins were trading players away at last season’s trade deadline, sending mainstays like captain Brad Marchand (Florida), center Charlie Coyle (Colorado) and defenseman Brandon Carlo (Toronto) elsewhere. They had an incoming first-year coach in Marco Sturm. At best, it was supposed to be a transition year for the Bruins.
But through 34 games, Boston is second in the Atlantic Division with a 20-14-0 record, within a point of division-leading Detroit in the crowded Eastern Conference.
Many around the NHL were surprised. Geekie wasn’t.
“We underperformed. Last season was like the perfect storm of bad events with our kind of discombobulated training camp and then having a coaching change and just kind of everything that could have went wrong went wrong,” Geekie said. “The core group we have is just too good to be written off. But I understand why people had doubts about us.”
But defying doubts is what Morgan Geekie’s all about, whether it’s his team’s predicted finish in the standings or his own predicted regression as a scorer.
“He has everything to score 50 in this league,” Pastrnak said. “He has a heck of a shot. He has the goal-scoring instincts. He is going to get it one day.”
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