Duncan Keith, the Chicago Blackhawks’ unstoppable freak

TAMPA – In a sport where a coach’s platitudes towards his players float by on wings of homogeny, Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville’s admiration of defenseman Duncan Keith was capriciously definitive.

“He's kind of a freak,” said Quenneville, “as far as his metabolism and conditioning level.”

In 17 games, The Freak has taken 16 more shifts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs than any other player. He’s averaged more ice time per game – 31 minutes, 35 seconds – than any other player. He’s played a total of 537 minutes and 4 seconds, which is already more than 10 minutes greater than his total ice time in 19 games last postseason.

He’s on pace for more than 600 minutes played, and potentially the highest average ice time since the NHL began tracking the stat in 1998.

“I don’t have a stop watch. I don’t know what the times are. I’ve always played a lot of minutes and played the same way,” said Keith, who has played over 600 minutes twice already in his postseason career. “Because it’s two or three more minutes, and we’ve gone far in the playoffs, maybe it’s gotten more attention.”

In context, maybe it shouldn’t.

Keith’s time on ice is remarkable in the modern era, no doubt. But the catalyst for it was the Blackhawks’ lack of trust in their third defensive pairing, forcing Keith and the top four to play more. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, teams would frequently play their top defenseman – Larry Robinson or Ray Bourque, for example – upwards of 30 minutes per night. So, in essence, Keith is just playing at an old school pace.

But he’s also doing what Duncan Keith does, and what his teammates expect him to do: Play nearly half the game, and play it more effectively than nearly any other defenseman in the league.

“Everyone wants to talk about his conditioning. How he plays a lot of minutes. But we’ve come to expect that from him,” said captain Jonathan Toews.

“He’s got that determination. He’s never satisfied. He’s got that hunger, like he’s not going to be stopped.”

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Keith was drafted in the second round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Blackhawks following his freshman year at Michigan State.

The emphasis that season was on defense. The Blackhawks selected Anton Babchuk with their first-round pick at No. 21. (He would play 22 games in Chicago.) Then-general manager Mike Smith said Keith was a “Phil Housley type” defenseman who was “a great skater with good skill.”

One of the Blackhawks executives at that draft table was Dale Tallon, who had recently gone back to the broadcast booth after serving as the team’s director of player personnel. He replaced Smith in 2005 after the lockout, and Keith debuted that season.

It was Tallon that would keep the Blackhawks’ soon-to-be dynamic duo of Keith and Brent Seabrook together through sensible contracts after their rookie deals. Tallon’s blue print led to the first of Chicago’s two Stanley Cups with this core; Keith signed a massive 13-year, $72-million contract after winning in 2010.

And yet the money did nothing to quench his thirst for championships. Keith would help the Blackhawks win a second Cup, as he captured two gold medals with Canada’s Olympic team. He also captured the Norris Trophy twice, in 2010 and 2014, as the NHL’s top defenseman.

“He’s highly competitive. He just wants to win. He doesn’t care if the points are there. He wants to win games, compete and get better,” said Chicago defenseman Johnny Oduya.

Yet when talk turns to the Norris Trophy race each season, there are times when Keith’s name isn’t synonymous with it. You hear the same players always mentioned in context with the award, nearly automatically: Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Erik Karlsson, P.K. Subban. Before them, Zdeno Chara and Nicklas Lidstrom.

Keith has only been a Norris finalist in the two years that he’s won. Otherwise, he’s never finished higher than sixth in any given year for the award, voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

East Coast Bias? Potentially. But let’s harken back to Mike Smith’s draft-day comparison: Phil Housley.

Housley amassed 1,232 points in 1,495 games. He was a Norris finalist once in 21 seasons. Why? The competition for the award had something to do with it, for sure; but so did the perception that Housley was all offense and not enough defense.

Does Keith sometimes get that rap?

“I think his defensive game is so great that sometimes if might get overlooked,” defenseman Brent Seabrook.

“When you’re talking about the elite of the elite, a lot of times you’re talking about offensive production. Points and goals. And Dunc’s able to put those up,” he said. “But the best part of his game is his defensive game. His gaps. His ability to read rushes. His ability to play pucks to the corners, and get them to our forwards.”

In a sense, the totality of Keith’s game might be … what’s the word … underrated?

“Underrated isn’t the word I’d use. Maybe it’s tough to say what he does, what his ability is. It would be somewhat of a bad joke to me if he’s left out of conversations like that,” said Oduya, when asked why Keith isn’t a Norris automatic like others.

“There are some guys that don’t take the same pride in playing defense as he does. It’s something he’s done for a long time. You can be skilled and talented, but few guys work as hard as he does.”

Or lead from the back end like he does.

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Like several of his teammates, this is Keith’s third Stanley Cup Final in the last six years.

“Every time you’re here, it’s a privilege. It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice from everybody in the organization,” he said. “I’ve gotten older. We’ve all gotten older. But I don’t think anything changes as far as the level of excitement.”

That’s because the Blackhawks are as motivated as they come, and that’s because they have leaders like Keith, an alternate captain, and Toews, the team’s captain.

“He’s a hard worker. He comes to work every night and plays hard. That’s what you want out of someone who has a captain’s ‘C’ on his jersey.  He has learned every year, and gotten better every single year,” said Keith on Toews.

But lest you believe that the captain for an NHL team is some kind of motivational speaker, riling up his teammates, that’s never the case, said Keith.

“This is not like Disney when a guy stands up in the dressing room and talks to us like we're kids,” said Keith. “He’s a guy who is very focused and very driven. He’s passionate about hockey. I think because he is so passionate and driven it leads to his success on the ice. I think guys take note of that.”

Toews has, for years, taken note of Keith’s leadership.

“He’s got more personality and character than anyone I‘ve ever seen. He says what needs to be said to keep the guys loose, at the right moments,” he said.

This is Keith’s moment: Final round, end of the journey, facing the next dominant offensive challenge from the Tampa Bay Lightning after overcoming the last one from the Anaheim Ducks. He has 18 points in 17 games, and is an NHL-best plus-13 in the playoffs. He’s in the Conn Smythe conversation, near the forefront.

Exhaustion can wait. Pain will be delayed. The Freak just wants to keep playing until he hoists the Holy Grail for the third time in six years.

“I like to play hockey. When they put me out there, I just play. I don’t think about anything else,” he said

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