He played for several senior teams in Northern Ontario from 1912-15 before playing for the Toronto Blueshirts for two seasons (1915-17). Following two years in the Canadian military Keats joined the Edmonton Eskimos of the Alberta Big Four League in 1919. He stayed with the team when it joined the Western Canada Hockey League in 1921 until it disbanded in 1926. Keats then moved to the NHL's Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, and Detroit Cougars until 1929. In that year he joined the Tulsa Oilers of the American Hockey Association. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958.