“Always took pride in my training” – Top defenceman Duncan Keith announces retirement from NHL after 17 seasons
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Duncan Keith
Veteran Canadian ice hockey player Duncan Keith retired from the National Hockey League (NHL) on Tuesday after 17 seasons. The defenseman, who is about to turn 39 on July 16, had 21 points (one goal, 20 assists) in 64 regular-season games with the Edmonton Oilers this year and five points (one goal, four assists) in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
The Winnipeg native Keith had one season remaining on a 13-year, $72 million contract (average annual value of $5.53 million) he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks in December 2009.
“I think the last few years, as you get to a certain age, you evaluate how you’re feeling, how your body’s feeling,” Keith said, as quoted by NHL.com. “I always took pride in my training and being ready. It just felt like the last few years, there was a change in how I felt.”
“I still love the game, always will”
Duncan Keith, who played his first 16 NHL seasons with the Blackhawks, won the Stanley Cup three times (2010, 2013, 2015), before he was traded to Edmonton on July 12, 2021, for defenseman Caleb Jones and a conditional draft pick.
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He added: “I still love the game, always will, but with the change and getting older … and the 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 and the 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. That’s basically where my mindset was at.”
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Sachin Arora
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