Keith out until after all-star break?

There's a chance the Blackhawks might not have Duncan Keith back until after the all-star break.

Keith missed Friday's game against the Rangers and won't play tonight in St. Louis. With only two games remaining until the break after Monday, the Hawks are considering shutting down Keith.

That would give the defenseman two weeks of rest until the first game coming out of the break Jan. 28 at Anaheim.

Keith suffered a possible concussion Wednesday when he was elbowed in the head by Buffalo's Drew Stafford.

"Dunc's the way he was (Thursday)," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said Friday. "We'll see. He's day to day."

Quenneville shuffled the deck defensively without Keith against the Rangers. He put Brent Seabrook, Keith's normal partner, with James Wisniewski, using Seabrook on the left side, and paired Cam Barker with Matt Walker, and Brian Campbell with Aaron Johnson.

"You have to be able to play with anyone," Seabrook said about missing Keith, his long-time partner.

Prior to Friday, Keith hadn't missed a game since his rookie season in 2005-06. Keith had played in 286 of 287 games with a consecutive-games streak of 273, ninth longest in the NHL and fourth among defensemen.

Power outage: Even before the Hawks struggled on the power play against the Rangers, Joel Quenneville was talking about how the unit needed to be better.

"Right now we need to rely and count on the power play for some production," Quenneville said. "Our puck possession on the power play has to be better."

The Hawks were 3-for-24 on the power play in six games prior to Friday.

"We need more traffic and get more shots through from up top," Brian Campbell said. "We've kind of got away from that."

Classic scramble: Everybody wants to host the next Winter Classic. New York Newsday reported Friday that the new Yankee Stadium is at or near the top of the NHL's list to host the New Year's Day 2010 game.

The newspaper said the league would begin touring potential sites soon. Among the other teams believed to be seeking to host the next outdoor game are the Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia Flyers.

Tip-ins: Brent Seabrook served as assistant captain Friday with Duncan Keith sidelined. ... A reminder that Monday's game against Minnesota at the UC is a nationally televised games on Versus and starts a half-hour earlier at 7 p.m. ... Passes for the second Hawks fan convention set for July 17-19 at the Hilton Chicago go on sale today.