I think there’s a misconception that I don’t get Geekie as a prospect, haven’t noticed the body of work, or noticed how he’s grown every step of the way, or how the organization loves him and is pumping the tires. He’s obviously moved high up the chart. I’ve never been prone to shiny new toy or been remotely impressed by production in juniors. Curious either if you two would even go in that direction with me as I’m generally the one telling everyone else to calm down about that sort of thing, and I never move a guy up a list because he’s putting up pts in junior.
In Rees’s case it’s style of play that caught my eye. He’s a good prospect for us in that he’s feisty, aggressive and a really good skater. The thing that was supposedly lacking was the offense, and in the past his production has been good but more in line with what you two are saying in terms of “it really doesn’t mean much, it doesn’t translate”. His offense is hard work based and now has a higher touch of skill with it. None of us have any idea what will translate but one thing I’ve noticed over the last three years about the NHL is youth and pace. It’s becoming more important than well rounded right now. I’m the last person here who would’ve ever said that. I never cared about guys who could burn but have two cent heads. Rees isn’t that guy anyways. He’s a guy Rod will love.
I was the guy on the Geekie train last year. I’m still on it. It’s no insult to Geekie to say Rees has moved up, Rees clearly has the more natural skill set. He’s the better skater. He plays with the intangibles that do translate. To me he’s been a more likely prospect than Suzuki, who to me falls more in line with what you guys are saying. He’s pretty in juniors and has great hands, pretty highlights. If he isn’t a top two line guy he may never fit in though. Rees has versatility through the lineup. Of the new class to me he was the best all around offensive prospect, and the most likely to play guy of the bunch.
So no.....I didn’t put him high on my list because he’s scored a bunch of neat goals early in junior this year so Ima gonna jump on his train and hype him. Give me a break, a little surprised there.
Geekie is going to get his shot, and I honestly see him as the guy who scores the ugly goal that gets us in the playoffs or wins a series. I just haven’t seen enough quickness to think he’s going to have a chance to be on the top two lines yet. As usual I hope I’m wrong. I’d love to see both of them on the team, and honestly I think they’re two of the most likely guys to be Canes two years from now. Ceiling matters to me when I’m making a prospect list. Rees looks like he has a higher ceiling. That’s it.