George "Duke" Keats played only 82 games in his brief, two-plus seasons in the NHL, but he managed to record 48 points (29 goals, 19 assists) in a career that was deemed worthy of inclusion in the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.

According to his Hall of Fame biography, Keats was lauded by Lester Patrick, who called him "the brainiest pivot that ever strapped on a skate because he could organize plays and make passes every time he starts."

Keats, who grew up in North Bay, Ontario, started playing semi-professionally at 14 years old for the Cobalt Mining League as a forward. He moved to Toronto to play hockey for the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association in 1915-16, before taking a break from the game to fight in World War I in 1917.

He returned to hockey in 1919, when he joined the Edmonton Eskimos, who would join the Western Canada Hockey League in 1921-22. He would play for them for five seasons in the WCHL, scoring 185 points (117 goals, 68 assists) in 137 games. Keats was one of the best players in the league, a regular all-star, and helped lead the Eskimos to the Stanley Cup Final in 1923, which they lost to the Ottawa Senators. To get there, Keats was awarded a penalty shot, which he made, beating the Regina Capitals to send the Eskimos on to play the Senators.

His best seasons came with the Eskimos, scoring 55 points (31 goals, 24 assists) in 1921-22, his first season in the WCHL. He followed that up with seasons of 37 points (24 goals, 13 assists) in 1922-23, 31 points (19 goals, 12 assists) in 1923-24, 32 points (23 goals, nine assists) in 1924-25, and 30 points (20 goals, 10 assists) in 1925-26.

In 1926, Keats joined the NHL, splitting that season between the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Cougars. The next season was split between the Cougars and the Chicago Blackhawks, with Keats finishing up his NHL tenure with three games with the Blackhawks in 1928-29, before he was traded to the Tulsa Oilers of the American Hockey Association. That season he led the AHA in scoring, with 33 points (22 goals, 11 assists) in 38 games. He spent three seasons with the Oilers, before finishing his hockey career back in Edmonton with the Eskimos.