So it appears that the rumors of the flu going around the Chicago Blackhawks locker room were well founded. This may account for the lack of effort the last few games, it may not, but one thing is for sure – Jonathon Toews has been the most impacted.

It was announced today that Toews will miss the All Star Game (and therefore the first game after the break – imagine if the NFL had that rule) because of illness. The Blackhawks team doctor, Michael Terry, said rest was more important than play, and that Toews would need rest over the break to play into the regular season.

That’s not good. Toews played only 10 minutes against the Hurricanes, accounting for some of the bad play – especially for the first line.

While we wait for Toews to recover, there are some other things to focus on – namely that of who will replace Toews as the first line center.

It’s important that the second line remain the second line, so Artem Anisimov is unlikely to take a step up. Dennis Rasmussen has not played at an elite level the whole time he’s been up, and while he has chemistry with Shaw, who doesn’t. That leaves Philip Danault, someone who could use a change of pace from the third line – a line who hasn’t been scored on recently but also hasn’t scored. Hopefully that changes against Colorado.

That means the lineup could look like:

Shaw – Danault – Hossa

Panarin – Anisimov – Kane

Sekac – Desjardins – Teravainen

McNeill – Rasmussen – Panik

Yes, most have forgotten that Desjardins’ natural role is center. I don’t trust Teravainen on faceoffs and the speed that could come from combining Sekac and Teravainen could give a good boost to the line. Plus, the third line is still a good defensive unit and has scoring capabilities.

I hope Toews gets better soon, because his absence shows why he has that 10.5 mil contract.

Also, the fact that there are now 4 Predators in the All Star Game is bull. Artemi Panarin deserves that spot and the League knows it. Luckily this means the Blackhawks will have all of their stars well rested for a week (except Patrick Kane, but it might be more important for him to play than to rest. Gotta keep the hot hand warm.)