Duncan Keith has enjoyed a very decorated career. He has three Stanley Cup championships, including one Conn Smythe Trophy for NHL Playoffs MVP in 2015, to go along with two Norris trophies, four All-Star appearances, two First All-Star Teams, and two Olympic Gold medals playing for Canada.
That is, to put it lightly, one heck of a career.
2017-18 has been a little bit tougher for the 34-year-old blueliner. While the entire Chicago Blackhawks team has looked much softer than their dynasty look of recent years, Keith’s drop off has been particularly noticeable.
While his 30 assists don’t sound too bad, it represents the second lowest total he’s racked up since 2007-08, while his current -24 rating is only the third time in his career that he has had a rating below 0 (that includes -1 in 2010-11 and his rookie campaign in 2006-06 where he was -11). Of course these stats are also a product of his forwards not putting the puck in the net nearly as often as they have in the past, but there is one stat that falls directly into the lap of Duncan Keith – his abysmally bad shooting percentage.
Through 78 games, Duncan Keith has just one goal. While it is not rare for defenders to rack up low scoring totals, with Keith himself scoring in the single digits more often than not, it certainly can’t be blamed on a lack of trying. Keith is averaging 2.31 shots per game, which has totaled up to 180 shots total – good for 99th in the league. Despite getting the biscuit to the basket more often than most defenders, he can’t seem to get it by those pesky goaltenders.
If you listen closely, you can hear hockey fans everywhere exclaiming their outrage over Keith being on the Top 100 players of all-time list, while other players (like, oh let’s just say Evgeni Malkin) were excluded.
Meanwhile, ‘Hawks fans aren’t too concerned.
(H/T Mark Lazerus)
