Keith had surgery in October to repair his meniscus and played 67 games last season. He missed six games in the three seasons prior to that, and had missed 20 games over 10 prior seasons with the Blackhawks.
"I don't want to look too far ahead, but at the same time I like the progression," Keith said. "… Today was good to get back out there in the swing of things even though it was a short practice."
Assistant coach Mike Kitchen said he believed Keith would be able to play the season opener on Oct. 12 against the St. Louis Blues at United Center.
"There's no concern to be honest with you," Keith said. "It's just like any other type of thing you go through where you do the rehab and you get it ready, and when you're ready to play you're playing and there's no excuses by then.
"I'm confident, I feel strong out there. I feel like this offseason has given me a lot of time to basically recover from six, seven, eight seasons prior to that. I feel great mentally, and strength-wise I feel good. ... Since I haven't skated in a long time and getting back on the ice here in September, I think that's all it is, is just kind of shaking some of that rust off and making sure my knee is getting better and better."
