Victor Hedman speaks with reporters postgame The Tampa Bay Lightning announced on Tuesday that they assigned forward Conor Geekie to the Syracuse Crunch. The rookie is playing in his first season with the organization after he was acquired by via trade, along with defenseman J.J. Moser, a 2024 seventh-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick on June 29, 2024. Geekie made his NHL debut on October 11th at Carolina. Since then, he's played in 49 games for the Lightning this season, recording six goals and 12 points and 86 hits. “He’s a 20-year old kid that's exceeded expectations," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Geekie. "He’s done a great job and you know…it's a great league to learn and gain more confidence in than he has already. So he’ll go down & work on a few things and probably be back at some point.” Prior to making his NHL debut, Geekie played 215 career games in the Western Hockey League between the Winnipeg Ice, Wenatchee Wild and Swift Current Broncos, logging 111 goals, 269 points and a plus-157 rating. Geekie also represented Canada at the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden in a fifth-place finish. He was originally drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the first round, 11th overall, of the 2022 NHL Draft. He
