Keith remembered for 'pushing himself to highest level' with Blackhawks

Duncan Keith knew how he wanted his hockey equipment.

The defenseman, who
announced his retirement Tuesday
after 17 NHL seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Oilers, went with what worked for him from his skates to his sticks, even reverting to the past if necessary.
"I think it was 2010, maybe after that and you always get new sticks. We get new sticks, then he went through his garage and got sticks from like 10 years ago and he started playing with them," former NHL forward Bryan Bickell, who played with Keith on the Blackhawks from 2006-16, said.
"He was a different cat about his skates and about his sticks and things like that. He was a great dude in the locker room, a good friend."
Clearly Keith, who thanked the trainers in Edmonton -- "I know you put up with a lot and I appreciate that" -- knew was he was doing. The results were always there. With the Blackhawks, Keith won the Stanley Cup three times (2010, 2013 and 2015), won the Norris Trophy as the League's best defenseman twice (2010 and 2014) and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP in 2015. He also won gold with Canada in the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Keith, who turns 39 on Saturday, had 646 points (106 goals, 540 assists) in 1,256 games with the Blackhawks and Oilers. Edmonton acquired Keith from Chicago for defenseman Caleb Jones and a conditional pick in the 2022 NHL Draft on July 12, 2021. He had one season remaining on the 13-year, $72 million contract ($5.53 million average annual value) he signed on Dec. 3, 2009.
"I always took pride in my training and being ready, it just felt the last few years, there was a change in how I felt," Keith said with his 9-year-old son, Colton, by his side.
"I still love the game, always will. But, with the change and getting older, I'll be 39 at the end of the week, and the opportunity and thought of being around my son more and being around him and his hockey, being able to help my brother coach our boys and his daughter, more and more it got closer to that, more excited I became about that thought. It's never an easy decision. I think there's part of me that knows I could still play, and I think that's how I wanted to go out, knowing I still had some game left in me and I'm relatively healthy."

Forward Andrew Ladd, who played with the Blackhawks from 2008-10 and again in 2016, usually worked out with Keith during the summers.
"He could push himself to the highest level physically in order to be ready for camp and the season," said Ladd, now with the Arizona Coyotes. "The way he thought, the way he watched other players, I'd listen to him talk about [former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas] Lidstrom and see him as a young defenseman, trying to emulate things he did. There was so much there in terms of trying to get the most out of himself and push himself to be the best at what he was doing. To see that come to fruition with the Norris trophies and Stanley Cups, I was lucky to be a part of that from the standpoint that he pushed me to new heights as a hockey player."
When the Blackhawks selected Keith in the second round (No. 54) of the 2002 NHL Draft, one of the concerns was about his size (6-foot-1, 192 pounds). Keith said Trent Yawney, who coached at Norfolk, the Blackhawks' American Hockey League affiliate from 2000-05, believed that wouldn't be an obstacle.
"He really helped me lay the foundation for a pro career, taught me what it was about to be a defenseman in this League," Keith said. "He believed in me, that I could play defense being a smaller defenseman, using my quickness, speed, heart and determination."
Former Blackhawks forward and current broadcaster Eddie Olczyk said Keith had a few other attributes working for him too.
"It's the want to and the will to be the best was in the pushing of himself, I mean, it was something to watch on a daily basis," he said. "Really, 'Dunc' could play any way you wanted, right? He could light it up offensively. I think I've said this before: If Dunc wanted to, he could probably have another 300 points on his resume. He knew what he had to do to help the team, being one of the top defenders in the League for the longest time, on top of maybe erring on the side of offense or trying to create and generate offense. I just think he's a compete defenseman for that stretch of years."
It doesn't seem a question of if Keith is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, but when. Will he be a first-ballot entry like his former Blackhawks teammate, Marian Hossa, who entered the Hall with the Class of 2020? Perhaps, but whenever it happens, Keith has earned it.
"I'm sure it's not going to be far off," Bickell said. "It's like Hossa's career and guys like that, what they've done for the game and what they've done for the city of Chicago, they made it a special place for a lot of people."