Who makes up the Blackhawks all-decade team of the 2000s?

Most people don’t think of Duncan Keith as a standout during the early to mid-2000s. However, the star defenseman for the Hawks and future Hall-Of-Famer began his career in 2006.

A talent that was grown completely within the Blackhawks organization, Duncan Keith was drafted by Chicago in the second round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 54th overall. While players in this spot don’t always turn out to be bonafide superstars, that is definitely not the case for Keith.

The prototype defensive defenseman, Keith has never been much of an offensive contributor, although he did score nine goals in his rookie season. His highest career point totals came in 2009-10, scoring 14 goals and 55 assists for a 69 point season. This is not what he is known for, however.

Keith is known throughout the NHL and the hockey world as being an absolute workhorse. During the 2011 season, he logged over 2200 minutes of ice time and has averaged at least 20 minutes on the ice in every single season he’s played. He’s won the Norris Trophy twice as the league’s best defenseman, along with four trips to the All-Star Game.

He became the stuff of legend in Chicago in 2010 after having seven teeth knocked out during Game 4 of the Western Conference Final and then going on to finish the game and help the team clinch their trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

Keith has been a mainstay on the Blackhawks blueline for years and was the shining star of the defensive core during the latter half of the 2000s. There is nobody else I’d rather have on the all-decade team, and no better person to rally the troops.

Say what you want about Brent Seabrook and his contract (and I definitely have), there is no denying that Seabs has been a staple of the Hawks blueline for a generation, and his partnership with Duncan Keith created some of the most memorable moments.

Seabrook has ended up having a remarkably similar career to Keith in terms of longevity, although he is slightly more of an offensive contributor. Seabrook was drafted 14th overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, and has been part of the Blackhawks ever since.

While he is not an offensive juggernaut like Erik Karlsson or Brent Burns, he has still put up decent numbers, including a 2016 season in which he scored 14 goals, a career-high. Plus, who could forget this:

He has struggled with injuries the past few years and was held out of most of the previous season due to shoulder and hip surgery. While he is entering the twilight of his career now, Seabrook was the other half of the Blackhawks’ defensive anchor during the latter half of the 2000s and continues to be a mainstay on the roster to this day.

Whether or not that will hold true much longer remains to be seen, but at the very least it can be said that Brent Seabrook was an indelible part of the 2000s Blackhawks era as well as the current Blackhawks era, and pairs perfectly on the blueline of the all-decade team.