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Duncan Keith's trek to Stanley Cup trifecta proves he's a future Hall of Famer

Scott Audette / National Hockey League / Getty

Seven-hundred fifteen minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

Duncan Keith's two-month trek through the Stanley Cup playoff gauntlet was treacherous, anomalous, and rightfully rewarding, because in the final moments of his exhausting journey, he appropriately experienced the fruits of his labor.

After scoring the series-deciding goal to oust the Tampa Bay Lightning, and just before kissing the Stanley Cup for the third time, the Chicago Blackhawks defenseman was unanimously named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the playoff's most valuable player for his near-superhuman contributions.

From the moment the puck dropped in the first round, Keith sheltered - and hoisted - a thinning, aging defensive corps. He was required to be the fourth player in NHL history to log more than 700 minutes in a postseason run, taking more than a half hour per night for a rotation often limited to four men.

He might as well have etched Kimmo Timonen's name on the grail himself.

Keith finished with 21 points, fourth-most in the tournament, and earned a share of the franchise record for single postseason points by a blue-liner with Chris Chelios. His three goals were game-winners, two being decisive, series-clinchers. His plus-16 rating topped all skaters. He equaled Patrick Kane with a playoff-best 13 even-strength points.

The scientific wonder is the first defenseman to win the Conn Smythe since 2007, and just the ninth in NHL history. And it's the company he now keeps - not the fact he shone brighter than the throng of superstars playing in the season's terminal series - that reflects just how remarkable his performance was.

Serge Savard, Bobby Orr, Larry Robinson, Al MacInnis, Brian Leetch, Scott Stevens, Nicklas Lidstrom, Scott Niedermayer, and now Duncan Keith, represent the handful of rearguards who own miniature plaques attached to the annual Stanley Cup appetizer.

With two Norris trophies and two Olympic gold medals already on his mantle, Keith, 31, really only has one outstanding accomplishment left to attain in his sport. And it's an honor he may have tipped the scales in achieving with his heroics in these playoffs.

And that's to join those defensemen once more, in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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