NHLPA officially suspends Tampa Bay Lightning forward Conor Geekie
Photo credit: HTR
Conor Geekie, a rookie forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning, has been suspended by the NHL's Department of Player Safety for one preseason game, the league announced on Thursday.
The NHL's 2024 preseason hasn't exactly lacked the intensity we witness in regular season games, and while that has led to some injuries, it has also produced some extremely entertaining moments. Winger Josh Davies took a run at Lightning captain Victor Hedman on Wednesday during the Panthers-Lightning Battle of Florida, and he was taken down with a stunning hit.
But it appeared that Nikita Kucherov and rookie center Conor Geekie didn't like the play. When Kucherov got physical with Davies, Geekie, also stepped up off the bench and dropped the gloves.
Upon closer examination, it appeared that everything was in order and that a penalty would be sufficient; however, he had to appear before the NHL's Department of Player Safety for a blatant infraction.
He was punished for breaking NHL Rule 70.2, which prohibits leaving the players' bench during a legitimate line change in order to instigate altercations.
Geekie claimed that he stood up for his teammates by doing what he did after the game.
«It's one of those things, it doesn't matter if it's Heddy or whoever it is,» Geekie said, according to The Tampa Bay Times. «I think anyone gets hit like that, someone's got to step up. And I figured that I could be that guy. It worked out, but anyone could do it. I'm sure a lot of guys were thinking the same thing as me."
Twenty-year-old Geekie, one of Tampa Bay's best prospects, was an important component of the Mikhail Sergachev trade with Utah this summer. Geekie, who was selected by the Arizona Coyotes with the 11th overall pick in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft, finished the previous season with 43 goals and 99 points in 55 WHL games. He is the younger brother of forward Morgan Geekie of the Boston Bruins.
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