Clayton Keller

Clayton Keller (born July 29, 1998) is an American professional ice hockey forward and alternate captain for the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Keller was born on July 29, 1998, in Chesterfield, Missouri, and he was raised in Swansea, Illinois by parents Bryan and Kelley Keller.

Keller and his younger brother Jake would play hockey in the basement of their family home while attending Wolf Branch School District 113, the walls of which were painted to look like an ice hockey rink and were decorated with Keller's favorite National Hockey League (NHL) players: Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexander Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin.

He became interested in ice hockey at the age of three, when his mother took him to a high school game, and he joined a contingent of other St. Louis-area players around his age, including Luke Opilka, Luke Kunin, and Matthew Tkachuk.

In 2010 and 2011, Keller played in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the St. Louis Blues minor ice hockey affiliate.

In 2012, Keller joined the ice hockey team at Shattuck-Saint Mary's, a boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota, and the alma mater of NHL players Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Kyle Okposo.

He scored 58 goals and recorded 129 points in 60 games during the 2012–13 season.

After playing as a center during his first year with Shattuck-Saint Mary's, Keller moved to the wing for the 2013–14 season.

After recording 94 goals and 112 assists in two seasons with Shattuck-St.

He spent two years attending Shattuck-Saint Mary's before joining the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in 2014, where he set a program record with 189 points in two seasons.

While the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League selected him in the 2014 OHL Draft, Keller attended Boston University to play college ice hockey for the Terriers in 2016.

In his one season there, he was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Year and won the Tim Taylor Award for the top NCAA Division I rookie.

Mary's, winning a national championship in the process, Keller joined the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) for the 2014–15 season.

After registering 34 goals and 82 points in 60 games that season, Keller added another 37 goals and 107 points in 62 games during the 2015–16 season, the second-highest single-season point total in program history.

The Coyotes selected him seventh overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

Born in Chesterfield, Missouri, and raised in Swansea, Illinois, Keller was part of a group of skilled young hockey players around his age growing up in the St. Louis area.

He left Boston University after one season, joining the Coyotes for the end of the 2016–17 season.

As the 2016 NHL Entry Draft approached, Keller had committed to playing college ice hockey for the Boston University Terriers, but he also had the option to play junior ice hockey in Canada, as the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League had selected him in the second round, 40th overall, of the 2014 OHL Draft.

Keller was one of five players from the St. Louis area who were selected in the first round of the 2016 draft, taken seventh overall by the Arizona Coyotes.

On August 3, 2016, Keller turned down the Spitfires, choosing instead to attend Boston University.

Keller scored his first collegiate goal in his first game, Boston University's 6–1 season-opening rout of Colgate on October 6, 2016.

He was injured during the Terriers' 3–0 win over Northeastern at the start of November, with sophomore Jordan Greenway taking his place as Boston's second-line center in his absence.

He missed seven games with the injury, returning to put up two goals and six points in three December games, enough to be named the Hockey East Rookie of the Month.

He won the award again in January, when he had five goals and 11 points in nine games, and February, when he had seven goals and 12 points in eight games.

Keller finished the season with 19 goals and 40 points in 31 games.

In addition to being a unanimous selection to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team, Keller was a Hockey East Second Team All-Star, the Hockey East Rookie of the Year, and the recipient of the Tim Taylor Award for the top NCAA Division I rookie men's ice hockey player.

He played in only three games at the end of the 2016–17 season, recording two assists in the process.

Playing in every game during his first two seasons of professional ice hockey, Keller led the Coyotes with 65 points in 2017–18 and 47 points the following season, and he was an NHL All-Star in 2019.

Despite a late-game goal from Keller, the Terriers were eliminated from the 2017 Hockey East Men's Ice Hockey Tournament in the semifinal round by crosstown rivals Boston College.

They received a bid in the 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, facing reigning champions North Dakota in the first round.

Keller scored the game-winning goal in double overtime against North Dakota, and the Terriers advanced to the Frozen Four, where they lost 3–2 in overtime to Minnesota Duluth.

Once Keller's freshman season at Boston University concluded, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Coyotes on March 26, 2017.

He made his NHL debut the next night, playing against the St. Louis Blues at his hometown stadium, the Scottrade Center.

He skated on a line with Alexander Burmistrov and Christian Fischer in the game, which the Coyotes lost 4–1.

Keller recorded his first point in his first home game at Gila River Arena, assisting on Alex Goligoski's third-period goal against the Blues.

It was the only goal the Coyotes scored in the 3–1 loss.

After impressing new coach Rick Tocchet in training camp, Keller started the 2017–18 season as the right winger on the Coyotes' top offensive line.

He spent two seasons in the NTDP, with 71 goals and 118 assists for 189 career points, setting the program record until 2019, when he was surpassed by Jack Hughes.

Keller made his postseason debut with Arizona in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, where they were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round (after winning the best-of-five qualifying round versus the Nashville Predators).

He recorded his 200th career point and received his second All-Star Game selection during the 2021–22 season, but suffered a season-ending leg injury at the end of March.