Morgan Geekie & Ryan Donato Breakouts

[BKarchitect]

Two of the bigger surprises of the year from an offensive production and utilization standpoint, taking advantage of increased deployment on bad teams, and perhaps a bit of shooting luck. They had remarkably similar deployment for their teams, and similar results.

Who do you believe in more as a true top six forward...or both...or neither?

Morgan Geekie
- 26 years-old (27 next season)
- 77 GP, 33 Goals, 24 Assists, 57 Points
- Career highs prior to this season: 17 goals, 39 points
- Shooting% this season: 22.0%
- Career shooting% prior to this season: 11.4%
- TOI this season: 16:55 Total (15:05 EV, 1:48 PP, 0:01 SH)
- Notes: There's no doubt he took advantage of more ice time on a weakened team and had an unsustainable shooting record - but he did have 28 ES goals and only 9 PP points on mild PP deployment.

Ryan Donato
- 29 years-old (29 next season)
- 80 GP, 31 Goals, 31 Assists, 62 Points
- Career highs prior to this season: 16 goals, 31 points
- Shooting% this season: 17.0%
- Career shooting% prior to this season: 10.5%
- TOI this season: 16:19 Total (14:24 EV, 1:52 PP, 0:03 SH)
- Notes: Slightly more "normal" shooting % than Geekie and also a high achiever at ES - very similar to Geekie with 26 ES goals and only 12 PP points on mild PP deployment.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I have no idea what happened, but Morgan Geekie suddenly developed a lethal one-timer this year. Pointers from Pastrnak maybe? Still, it’s such an outlier compared to the rest of his career so far and I still have serious reservations about paying him top 6 money based off of what I do think is likely an outlier not just right now but for his entire career when all is said and done.

Donato, on the other hand, has always shown offensive talent. It’s always the IQ and effort that I would come back to questioning when I saw him frequently in a Bruins uniform. It doesn’t surprise me that much that he could have a solid offensive year in a top line role. Good evasiveness, good skater, good shot, good hands. The eye test shows he’s a better offensive player than Geekie.

quite frankly, this is a really tough choice. It’d be really tough to feel comfortable giving either top 6 money, but I may have to bet Donato. The biggest reason I can find to bet Geekie over Donato is that he’s younger.

In the end, I went with “neither” on the poll.

 

[Crow]

I guess it depends on where they end up and their role. Is Geekie signed for next year? Donato is not.

All things being equal (which they aren’t) I think Donato would be the better producer for a couple years. He noticeably improved his skating IMO which is something to consider. Also had the more sustainable shooting percentage.

In the end I voted neither as well.