Staff
The young phenom who learned his craft on the ice at the ’52 Canadians Arena here officially has earned a place among the best to ever don the blades in the NHL.
Chicago Blackhawks’ defenceman Duncan Keith was announced as one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players on Friday during the league’s all-star game festivities in L.A.
The group of 67 revealed Friday mainly played from 1967 to the present era.
They joined the initial 33 who played mostly before 1967 and were announced during the Centennial Classic in Toronto on New Year’s Day.
Keith, a 33-year-old native of Winnipeg, began playing minor hockey in Fort Frances at the age of five.
He spent the next 10 seasons establishing himself as a budding young talent before moving away to Penticton, B.C. due to his father, Dave, getting employment in nearby Summerland.
Keith was drafted in the second round (54th overall) by the Blackhawks in 2002.
He entered the league in 2005 and since then has hauled in one accolade and achievement after another.
Keith’s work on the blueline was key to Canada earning silver at the 2008 world championship and then winning the Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
Only months later, he helped break Chicago’s 49-year Stanley Cup drought and wound up winning the first of his two Norris Trophies that year as the league’s best defenceman.
Keith and the ‘Hawks won the Cup again in 2013, followed by another Olympic gold in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
The blueliner then made it a hat trick in 2015 with a third Cup–scoring the decisive goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the clinching Game 6.
His seemingly unending stamina saw him play the most minutes of any player in the playoffs that year, and led to him being named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the post-season MVP.
Keith, who was in town in 2008 for “Duncan Keith Day,” returned to a hero’s welcome in his former stomping grounds at a massive all-day celebration here in the summer of 2015.
For his career, he has recorded 491 points in 884 regular-season games, with another 80 points in 122 playoff matchups.
Keith has 33 points in 51 games so far this season.
