Circa 1921 Duke Keats Edmonton Eskimos Photograph
This stunning photograph depicts Hall of Fame member, Duke Keats during his tenure with the Edmonton Eskimos circa 1921. Keats was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1895. He began his professional hockey career in 1915 with the NHL Toronto Blueshirts, leading the team in points with 22 Goals and 7 assists in 24 games. He played one more season with the team before serving in the military during the 1st World War from 1917-19.
He then joined the Edmonton Eskimos of the Alberta Hockey League in 1919. Keats would lead the team in scoring three seasons and would lead the team to the Stanley Cup final in 1923. Keats would not only star as a player for the team but as discovered in the documents of the Ken MacKenzie estate collection, he would also serve as a joint owner with Ken MacKenzie.
Following the demise of the WCHL in 1926, Duke Keats would be picked up by the Boston Bruins where he would play 17 games scoring 5 goals before being traded to the Detroit Cougars that same season. He played parts of 1926-27 and 1927-28 with Detroit before being traded to the Chicago Blackhawks. He parts of the 1927-28 and 1928-29 NHL seasons in Chicago and then ended up with the AHA Tulsa Oilers from 1929-31. He was reinstated as an amateur in 1932-33 then returned to Edmonton to finish his professional career as a playing coach with the Edmonton Eskimos Hockey Club from 1932-34. He hung up the skates to become the full time coach of the Eskimos in 1934-35. He coached the Calgary Rangers of the AbSHL, Luscar Indians of the CBSHL and the Saskatoon Quakers of the N-SJHL before retiring from hockey.
Duke Keats WAS the Edmonton Eskimos Hockey team and will be forever synonymous with the first venture into professional hockey in Edmonton, Alberta.