The New York Islanders hold the 13th overall selection in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, the highest they will choose since 2018, when they took Oliver Wahlstrom at 11 and Noah Dobson at 12. It is also the first time they have picked in the first round since 2019. Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a look at some of the players that the Islanders could draft with that pick. Last week, we looked at Brad Lambert, who has a multitude of familial connections to the Islanders organization. This week, we will look at someone who has no connections to the Islanders, but is an interesting player for the team to look at in Conor Geekie.

Geekie, 18, was born on May 5, 2004 in Strathclair, Manitoba, Canada. His father, Craig, played in the Western Hockey League for four seasons before turning to coaching his three sons—Morgan, Noah, and Conor. Morgan Geekie, the older of Conor’s older brothers, was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft and played three seasons in the Hurricanes organization before being selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Noah Geekie, the middle brother, played a little bit of hockey before turning to baseball.

The 6’4″, 205-pound center played for the Yellowhead Chiefs U15 AAA during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, totaling 87 goals and 154 points in 66 games over the two seasons. His performance with the Chiefs during his second of two seasons (49-37-86 in 31 games) made Geekie a top priority for some teams during the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft.

Ahead of the 2018-19 WHL season’s Trade Deadline, the Red Deer Rebels traded their first-round selection, amongst other pieces, to the Kootenay Ice (now Winnipeg Ice) in exchange for Cam Hausinger and Brett Davis. That pick became the ninth overall selection in the draft, and the Ice, who had won the lottery that year for the first overall selection, wanted to move up to have the top-two picks in the draft. On May 2, the day of the draft, the Ice made a deal to acquire Reece Harsch and the third overall selection from the Saskatoon Blades in exchange for the ninth pick and three other picks. They then traded the third pick and and a third-round pick in the 2020 Draft to the Prince George Cougars in exchange for the second pick.

With the first overall pick, the Winnipeg Ice selected Matthew Savoie, another highly-touted prospect in this draft. They then took Geekie with the second pick. The Ice signed Conor Geekie on May 31, 2019. Conor Geekie spent the majority of the 2019-20 season with the Chiefs (18-17-35 in 26 games, 1-2-3 in four playoff games), but got a seven-game stint with the Ice. He was held off the scoresheet in those games.

The 2020-21 season yielded very different results to the year before. He spent nine games with the Virden Oil Capitals in the MJHL, scoring a goal and adding three assists. He spent the remainder of the season with the Ice, scoring at an almost point-per-game pace with nine goals and 23 points in 24 games.

Despite being labeled a top prospect before this past season, Geekie’s 2021-22 season cemented him as a skater likely to go in the top 15 of this coming draft. After scoring at near-point-per-game pace last season, he did exactly that in the regular season with 24 goals and 70 points in 63 games. In fact, he is scoring at almost the same rate in the WHL Playoffs with three goals and 11 points in 14 games.

Once again, I reached out to Will Scouch to ask for an opinion on Geekie and how he is as a player. Scouch is a McKeen’s Hockey contributor and founder of Scouching, where he takes both aspects of the “eye test” and advanced analytics to give a different perspective on the game to fans. He contributed to my “Digging Into the Islanders’ 2021 NHL Draft Class” series, and also added to the Lambert piece linked above. I would like to thank Will for adding his insight and make sure to check him out on Twitter, Youtube, on his website, and maybe even consider supporting him on Patreon!

“Conor Geekie is a really tough one to evaluate. There’s certainly potential with the size and close quarters skill he’s got, and I like his simple playmaking down low. When the pace of the game is low and chaotic, he feels much more comfortable than in open ice quarterbacking rushes. I really question his pace, skill, puck control, and evasiveness, especially projecting to better competition, but the frame is really intriguing, as is the high pressure and chaotic play which is certainly common in the NHL, especially along the boards. I could easily see Geekie in a team’s bottom six, and I think it’s likely he lands as a good tertiary center option, but if you’re willing to take a risk and try to improve the feet, hands, and how they work together at high pace, there could be a heck of a large, powerful forward here that NHL teams would love to have.”

Check back in next week for another look at a potential draft target for the New York Islanders.

All statistics are as of May 25, 2022.

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