Let’s watch some Duncan Keith highlights

Former Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith retired on Tuesday, ending one of the most stories careers in NHL history.

Before free agency takes over the NHL news cycle for the next few days, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane and relive some of the top moments of Keith’s Hall-of-Fame career — because it sure as hell beats talking about the present-day Blackhawks.

Did you know that Duncan Keith fought Alex Burrows in the 2005-06 season?

This was long before the heyday of the Blackhawks/Canucks rivalry. It was Keith’s rookie season and, if my research is correct, his first NHL fight:

And while we’re on the subject of Burrows/Keith altercations, here’s the infamous hair-pulling incident from the 2008-09 season:

The Blackhawks had some pretty good commercials back in the day, with Keith starring in this one from the 2009-10 season (and stay tuned for Seabrook’s):

One of the signature moments of Keith’s career came during the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when a puck knocked out 10 teeth. Of course, Keith came back a few minutes later and Chicago ended the game — and the series. Here’s Keith talking about that game with old teammates Patrick Sharp and Adam Burish:

All of the Keith highlights available online seem to consist of goals he’s scored, so let’s focus on defense for a bit, because that was obviously where Keith flourished most (oh, and read this piece on Keith from Sam Fels over at Deadspin because it explains that better than anywhere else could).

Here’s a random goal-line clearance from the 2013 season in Dallas:

Let’s watch Duncan Keith shut down a 2-on-1 during Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final:

“Brilliant defensive play by Duncan Keith,” says announcer Jim Hughson. Well, of course.

When Keith’s career comes up The 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs may serve as the exclamation point. Just before the summer he’d turn 32, Keith averaged THIRTY-ONE MINUTES and seven seconds of ice time, scored three goals and led the postseason fields with 18 assists.

Oh, and those three goals were all game-winners:

Like we’d forget the third one:

Side note: is that the best Blackhawks goal ever scored at the United Center? Feels like the conversation is that one, Marina Hossa against the Nashville Predators in 2010 or Brent Seabrook against the Red Wings in 2013. Discuss among yourselves.

Here’s Keith demolishing Viktor Arvidsson with a good, clean, physical hit in the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Let’s not talk about anything else that happened during that series.

This one is a bit under the radar, but near the end of the 2017-18 season, Keith scored a late goal against the St. Louis Blues that effectively ended their season. It was just Keith’s second goal that season, and he was flirting with the NHL record for lowest shooting percentage in a season before this power-play goal went in:

Here’s a video shared on Twitter by the Blackhawks on Tuesday morning:

Probably missed some — or a lot — along the way. But that’s what the comment section is for!

Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images