Keith Ballard took the ice at Braemar Arena in Edina on Wednesday morning. He looked right at home, gliding around the rink, joking with some of his former Wild teammates, even coming close to scoring a goal on a redirection near the crease.

There was some noticeable rust on the 33-year-old’s game. Still, playing with the likes of Wild players Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker and Jason Pominville, among others, Ballard never looked out of place.

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“Not even close,” Ballard said with a laugh.

After hanging up the skates for good in December because of lingering concussion symptoms, Ballard said that even though he misses the game, he doesn’t get the itch to play again.

“That’s the one part about being retired that I’m really thankful for is I knew it was time and I was very comfortable with it,” he said. “I think part of it is having a life outside of hockey. I think a lot of times, too many people identify themselves with their job. And once that’s gone, they don’t know where to go next. I’m a lot busier now, I think, than I was when I was playing.”

Ballard’s final game was almost two years ago now, on Dec. 9, 2014. The game ended with Ballard convulsing on the ice after being knocked into the boards in front of the Wild bench. His concussion symptoms lingered for more than a year before he decided to call it a career, finishing his two-year Wild stint with just 59 games.

“It was toward the end of that year, and it was pretty clear like, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ Not putting my family through that anymore. Young kids at home. It was time to move on,” said Ballard, who suffered five concussions in his career. “I’m fortunate it happened 11 years into my career rather than three years into my career. I would’ve had a lot of regrets — not regrets — maybe a lot of what-ifs had it been the other way around.”

Since making retirement from his 10-year, 604-game NHL career official, Ballard has earned a sports management degree from the University of Minnesota. He opted not to walk at his graduation.

“I went to my wife’s graduation back in college, and I sat there for so long,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t want to put anyone through that. I got my diploma in the mail just like I got my high school diploma.”

Ballard interned with his former agent, Ben Hankinson, at Octagon Hockey and recently joined the Minnesota Wild front office as local manager for the organization’s Little Wild Learn-To-Play Program. That, coupled with the fact he and his wife, Jamie, had their third child two months ago, and Ballard has a lot on his plate.

Ballard said conversations to rejoin the Wild in his current role intensified over the past month or so. In its third year of existence, the Little Wild Learn-To-Play Program is designed to introduce the sport at the beginner level. The NHL and NHLPA fund the program that features 16 participating locations in Minnesota this year. Ballard started in his new role Tuesday night at Ames Arena in Lakeville with the goal of getting to each location at least once during the month of September.

“They wanted a director in place, and part of the job description is that person has to be an NHL alumni,” Ballard said. “I recently retired, and I’m still close to a lot of the people at the Wild, so we had some conversations. I’m not doing anything right now work-wise, so I thought this was a good way to stay with the organization. … It gives me a good balance with family and things like that.”

His kids — Ava is 6 years old, Luke is 3 and Will is 2 months — aren’t old enough to participate in the program yet. Ava, at least for now, is more interested in dance and gymnastics. Luke, on the other hand, is already starting to take after his dad.

“It’s always, ‘Dad, let’s go play hockey. Dad, let’s go play hockey,’ ” Ballard said, emphasizing that his injuries won’t stop him from letting his kids play. “There’s so much of this with kids now, and we want to protect our kids as much as we can. We have to let them grow, too, and if that’s what they want to do, I’ll let them go.

“I’m not going to let them get a tattoo yet or something like that,” he added with a laugh.

As for Ballard, he started skating again shortly after his retirement. After a few more doctor visits and various treatments, Ballard said he was finally in “a comfortable position” with his health and decided to play in a men’s league on Wednesday nights at Blake.

“It’s a fun group,” he said. “No one is out there trying to prove anything.”

At last in what he calls “a good place” with his health, Ballard trotted sweatily toward the locker room at Braemar Arena on Wednesday morning after the 90-minute workout. As players filed in, looking around, Ballard was clearly the veteran of the bunch. Times have changed. He’s no longer the spry left-shot defenseman he once was, and he’s OK with that.

Those Wednesday nights at Blake are more than enough for now.

“Getting back on the ice with NHL guys after not skating much for two years is a jump,” he said. “It’s an easy way to see how much someone can lose if they don’t keep up at that level. It’s fun, though. Those guys take it easy on me, at least.”