Keith-Seabrook partnership has grown over time

It's another long walk to the Chicago Blackhawks' bus for Trent Yawney, this time following an eighth consecutive defeat in what has been a trying five weeks to start the 2006-07 NHL season.

With dwindling attendance at the United Center and the Blackhawks in danger of missing the playoffs for a ninth time in 10 years, the second-year head coach needs to act fast in hopes of changing his team's fortunes.

A 4-9-1 record, plus injuries to forwards Martin Havlat and Michal Handzus, goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and others on the blue-line, has forced Yawney to deviate from his plan and pair a couple of the team's future cornerstones on defence, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.

"Initially, we wanted each of them with a veteran player because they were trying to learn the league and learn the players [in their second full season]. Out of necessity they got put together," Yawney said over the phone recently from California, where he's in his second season as an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks.

"I knew they were both very good players at a young age, but I don't think anybody could say they ever thought those guys would be as dominant as they've become."

Yawney was fired 16 days after that eighth straight loss and, while he won't be remembered in Chicago for his 33-55-15 record in a little more than one season, his fingerprints are all over the successes of Keith and Seabrook.

In four seasons, they have become what many consider the best defensive tandem in the league at both ends of the ice.

Later this month, Keith and Seabrook will put that claim to the test when they anchor the Team Canada blue-line in Vancouver during their first Olympic tournament.

"I think right from the get-go it was a pretty good pairing, being able to play with [Seabrook] and read off him," Keith told CBCSports.ca during a recent conference call. "We've worked through our bumps and ups and downs and I think that's what's made us a good pair."

Growth years

Like many of the NHL's elite defensive pairs, both past and present, the partnership has grown over time.

"They were obviously raw and learning the league but you could see the intangibles they brought," Yawney said of Keith and Seabrook's early years in the NHL. "As much as those were tough years from a win-loss perspective, they were definitely growth years for those players in the sense they have now become leaders of that [Chicago] team."

Yawney was first introduced to Keith, a former Michigan State Spartan, in 2003 when he coached the Blackhawks' American Hockey League affiliate in Norfolk. Va. Seabrook joined the Admirals the following year after finishing his junior career with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League.

Fresh out of the U.S. collegiate and Canadian junior ranks, respectively, each player had deficiencies in his game.

Keith could move the puck and had the sneaky hard shot that fans see today, but Yawney and his coaching staff broke down the Winnipeg native's game and used his quickness to make him learn how to play good defence.

'He's from zero to 60 in a couple of seconds. He had that in the minors and it got harnessed over time.' — Former Blackhawks head coach Trent Yawney on Keith

Six years later, the 26-year-old Keith has developed into a solid all-around player. Through Feb. 1, he was second among NHL defencemen in goals (11), points (49) and ice time (26 minutes, 33 seconds) third in shots (143) and sixth in plus-minus (plus-19).

"As much as everybody talks about the offence Dunc is producing," Yawney said, "people forget what a great defender he is. He takes ice away from people and his angles are so good. He's a hard guy to play against, even though he may give up size to some players [at six-foot-one, 196 pounds].

"He's quick. He's from zero to 60 in a couple of seconds. He had that in the minors and it got harnessed over time."

Seabrook, who hails from Richmond, B.C., was knocked for his skating in the AHL, but Yawney chalked it up to being a junior-aged player who didn't know how to train or be a professional at that stage in his career.

"The one thing I remember about Brent was his vision and ability to pass the puck tape to tape," said Yawney, a former NHL defenceman who played 12 seasons with Chicago, Calgary and St. Louis. "He played in the [2005 AHL] playoffs and matched up very well against [current NHLers] Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. You could see he was going to play in the National Hockey League."

Physical presence

Now 24, the six-foot-three, 220-pound Seabrook is a physical presence on the Blackhawks' blue-line. A smooth skater with exception first-pass skill, he also possesses a big shot from the point, which helped him score three goals and 21 points in 53 games through Feb. 1. His plus-22 rating ranks third in the league among defencemen.

Over time, Keith and Seabrook have proven to be a handful for many opposing forwards, including right-winger Brad Boyes of the division rival St. Louis Blues.

"If something happens to one guy, the other is there to back him up," Boyes, who has zero points and six shots in two games versus Chicago this season, said of the Blackhawks' duo. "Even as a shut-down pair they're both really strong offensively, too, running the power play. They're probably the best pairing around."

Keith and Seabrook burned Yawney's Sharks for eight points in two games earlier this season before San Jose held them to a combined single point and minus-5 rating in a 3-2 win on Dec. 22 at Chicago.

"We tried to make them play more on their side of the [centre] red line," said Yawney, who works with the Sharks' defence. "If our bigger forwards controlled the puck a little bit more down low [in the offensive zone] we had a better chance of making them play defence more than offence. Limiting their time with the puck is important."

Yawney, who grew up in Hudson Bay, Sask., is looking forward to watching someone else attempt to neutralize Keith and Seabrook in what he anticipates will be a special Olympic hockey tournament.

"I was a very small part of their development," said Yawney, who will watch the Olympics at his Chicago home with his wife Char and two children, Ashley and Conor.

"But at the same time, I really enjoyed coaching players like that, guys that just want to get better every night. They earned the right to be on that team and that's why they're going to have a great Olympics."