Hawks GM Bowman OK with Toews playing in All-Star Game

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman confirmed what coach Joel Quenneville said earlier in the week, that the team has no intention of asking Jonathan Toews to skip Sunday’s All-Star Game.

Toews has been playing through a lower-body injury suffered Saturday at Detroit but will have three full days off before even stepping on the ice again for Saturday’s all-star skills competition.

“I know these guys enjoy that event so I don’t anticipate that happening,” Bowman said. “It’s not a heavy schedule. There’s the game on the weekend, but these are just minor little bumps and bruises. It’s nothing significant. If it was then we would address it.”

Four players already have withdrawn from the All-Star Game either because of injuries or personal reasons, including Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Calgary’s Jarome Iginla and Atlanta’s Tobias Enstrom.

While Toews played Tuesday against Minnesota, Marian Hossa did not because of the flu.

The big break:

Joel Quenneville plans to give his players five full days off for the all-star break starting Wednesday.

The Hawks will assemble again Monday afternoon for practice before heading to Columbus ahead of Tuesday’s game with the Blue Jackets that kicks off a six-game road trip.

“It will be good just to get away from the rink a little bit, but it is a long break and we do have to be smart away from the rink and make sure we’re ready because we’re on the road when we come back,” defenseman Brian Campbell said.

While Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane head to all-star weekend in Raleigh, N.C., most of their teammates are slipping out of town for a few days.

Campbell said he is going to Aspen, Colo. — not to ski but to relax and check out the X-Games.

And the winner is …:

Last February’s trade with Minnesota that sent underachieving Cam Barker to the Wild in exchange for defensemen Kim Johnsson and Nick Leddy looks great for the Hawks.

Johnsson was a bust and now is out of the NHL because of the concussion he suffered playing for the Hawks last March, but the 19-year-old Leddy, a No. 1 draft pick of the Wild, should be a mainstay on defense here for years to come.

Barker came into the United Center on Tuesday minus-10 with 5 points in 39 games.

Joel Quenneville declined to declare a winner in the trade.

“We’ll let everybody else evaluate it,” Quenneville said. “We’re happy with it.”