On Tuesday (June 24), the Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2025 class. Among those who will be inducted during the annual ceremony in November are a quartet of former NHL players: Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny and Joe Thornton.
Keith will become just the 10th member of the Hall of Fame that played for Edmonton in the NHL, joining a very exclusive club that includes Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier, Adam Oates and Chris Pronger.
The thing is, no one thinks of Keith as an Oiler, and why would they? The defenceman is virtually synonymous with the Chicago Blackhawks. He played 16 seasons with that franchise and helped bring three championships to the Windy City. In the process, he was twice awarded the Norris Trophy and set the Blackhawks record for games played by a blueliner.
Related: 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame Class Announced
During the 2021 offseason, after nearly two decades with the Blackhawks organization, Keith was traded to Edmonton. He was an Oiler for exactly 365 days. Then he retired.
That year in Edmonton is a mere coda of a legendary career. Even diehard Oilers fans have already forgotten that Keith spent his final season in Oil Country.
But given the perspective of time, Keith’s stint with the Oilers may be more significant than could be appreciated in the moment. And Tuesday’s Hall of Fame announcement provides the perfect opportunity to revisit Keith’s Edmonton tenure.
Surprise Trade
On July 12, 2021, the hockey world was surprised with the news that Chicago had dealt Keith and forward Tim Soderlund to Edmonton in exchange for blueliner Caleb Jones and a 2022 conditional third-round draft pick.
The move drew mixed reviews. Keith, then just a few days away from turning 38, wasn’t the same player he was at his peak several years earlier. The veteran blueliner also didn’t come cheap: he had two years remaining on his 13-year contract at an average annual value (AAV) of $5,538,462, and Chicago retained no salary.
Keith had asked the Blackhawks to trade him so that he could be closer to his eight-year-old son, who lived in Penticton, B.C. Upon learning that Keith was looking to move West, then-Oilers general manager Ken Holland acted to acquire the three-time Stanley Cup champ and two-time Olympic gold medalist.
“It’s hard to pass up a player that’s got as much experience and success as Duncan has, and I think not only that Duncan will help us on the ice, but he’ll be a tremendous leader in the locker room,” Holland said.
Injection of Experience
At the time of the Keith trade, Edmonton was a team rich in talent but short on experience. After successful regular seasons, the Oilers bombed out of the playoffs in both 2020 and 2021, losing 3-1 to Chicago in the qualifying round and getting swept 4-0 by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, respectively, despite having home ice advantage for both series.
In 2020, Edmonton centre Leon Draisaitl won the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. In 2021, Oilers captain Connor McDavid swept the same three awards. They were the NHL’s top two players in the regular season but had only made it to the second round of the postseason once.
Enter Keith, who had nearly double the experience of playing in the Stanley Cup Final (18 games) than the entire 2020-21 Oilers roster combined (11 games), not to mention more championship rings. If nothing else, Keith could teach his new teammates a thing or two about winning.
“As a team, you go through a lot of ups and downs in the playoffs, and no team wins the Stanley Cup smooth sailing, so I think it’s just being able to ride those valleys and those ups and downs a little bit more smoothly, and if I can bring that experience to the team, more of a calming presence, then that’s what I want to do,” Keith said.
Mentoring Bouchard
Keith suited up for 64 games with Edmonton during the 2021-22 regular season, logging an average of 19:44 ice time. He scored once and assisted on 20 goals while registering a plus/minus of plus-15.
After spending the first three months playing alongside Cody Ceci, Keith was paired with Evan Bouchard and became a mentor for the then-22-year-old rearguard, who was in his first full NHL season.
“After every shift and between periods, he’s always wanting to help me help us as a pair,” Bouchard said during the latter stages of the 2021-22 regular season. “It’s big. On some plays, he’ll look it over (on video) by himself first before talking to me, and then make some comments and that really helps me grow as a person and it helps us as a pair. That’s the biggest thing with him. When he sees things, and he’s been through it all, he knows the best parts to talk to me about.”
Postseason Breakthrough
Edmonton finished the 2021-22 regular season with 104 points, its most since 1986-87, and secured a playoff berth as the second-place team in the Pacific Division.
Not only did the Oilers defeat the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, they then knocked off the Pacific’s first-place team, the Calgary Flames, in Round 2, before being swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final. It was Edmonton’s deepest playoff run in 16 years.
Keith played in all 16 of Edmonton’s postseason games, averaging 19:40 of ice time. He totalled five points from one goal and four assists and was second on the team with 29 blocks.
Calling it a Career
On July 12, 2021, the hockey world was surprised to learn that Keith was retiring after 17 seasons in the NHL, despite having one year left on his contract.
A wrap on one hell of a career for @DuncanKeith. 👏 pic.twitter.com/d3NwOKei1H
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) July 12, 2022
Seated next to his son at a press conference, Keith cited how his body was feeling, and particularly the opportunity to spend more time with family as reasons for his decision.
“It’s never an easy decision, and there’s still some part of me that knows I could still play, and I think that’s how I wanted to go out, knowing that I still had some game left me and I’m relatively healthy, so that’s basically where my mindset was at,” Keith said.
Lasting Impact
Over the four years prior to his arrival, Edmonton didn’t win a single playoff round. Over the four years since, the Oilers have won nine series. There can be no greater testament to his impact than that.
The Oilers haven’t reached the mountain top yet, but have come awfully close, losing in the Stanley Cup Final each of the last two postseasons. If the day comes when McDavid and Draisaitl finally do bring the Stanley Cup to Edmonton, Oilers fans can give a tip of the hat to their favourite team’s latest Hall of Famer.
“I believe they’re going to lead this team to a championship,” Keith said during his retirement press conference. “I really believe that.”
